By: GNNA Editor
Gulu
An engagement held in Gulu City has provided an opportunity for learning on how to harness the benefits of the oil and gas sector in the Acholi- Sub region.
Facilitated by the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU), The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Acholi leaders and members of the civil society, the one day session was opened by the Acholi Paramount Chief of Acholi Rwot David Onen Acana.
Centered on the theme: “Acholi Mineral Wealth Vs the Land Crisis”, the engagement aimed to answer suspicions around status and the volumes of oil and gas that are to extracted from the Acholi sub regions and the benefits that will be harnessed by the local population.
There have also been questions raised by the population to government on, lack of oil related projects being implemented in Acholi sub region and allegations that there is already ongoing secret sell of oil as well as demand for oil royalties.
“We only hear that we have the deepest oil deposits in Nwoya District but districts like Buliisa and Hoima are getting developed,” the Paramount Chief observed.
Acana further noted that the government has not been very clear on the oil discovery in Acholi Sub Region, something he said is causing suspicion due to concealment of information.
Facts on oil wells
Manager Facilities and Production at Petroleum Authority of Uganda, Felix Okot during his presentation clarified that there are five sedimentary basins in Uganda. These include the Albertine graben under which all oil projects are being undertaken. Other basins that are under investigation are Lake Kyoga, Moroto Kadam, Lake Victoria and Lake Wamala.
Under the Albertine graben, he stated that there are two ongoing projects, King Fisher and Tilenga. Under the Tilenga project which has contract one, it has fields that are in the North of the Nile and South of Nile.
“The fields that are within Acholi sub region are in Nwoya district, North of the Nile. We have the Lyec, Mpyo, Jobi East and Jobi Ri fields. Of the four fields, only Jobi Ri is currently under development under the Tilenga project,” Okot explained to stakeholders in Gulu City.
“When you look at Jobi Ri, it has 28% of the total recoverable volumes of oil for both Tilenga and King Fisher projects. Apart from that there is no exploration going on in Amuru district. There is no confirmed petroleum sedimentary basin in Amuru.”
Considering Uganda’s case, of every 100 wells drilled during exploration, 88% have oil which is extremely good world over. To date, Uganda has 6.5 billion barrels but only 1.65 billion barrels is recoverable.
Jobi Ri, which has the biggest well compared to the other three located in Nwoya, has a total discovery of 1867 million barrels, but only 470 million barrels can be recovered.
“We can lament but the project is going on. We shall wake up in 2025 when oil has started flowing. The discussion should be how we can participate,” he said.
Job Created for Youth in Nwoya District in Oil and Gas
So far, over 74 youth have undergone wielders training with support from Total Exploration Company that is implementing the Tilenga project.
With 54 of them reaching to 6G which is the highest division of welding position in the practice, Geoffrey Opiro aged 34 years a member of Nwoya coded welders association said, they are in the process of registering with National Oil and Gas Talent Register (NOGTR).
Opira told GNNA that of the 74 members, a total of 15 members are already employed with oil drilling companies in Nwoya, Buliisa and Hoima.
Additionally PAU estimates that, in the first five years from 2022 to oil production between 15 to 20 billion shillings is going to be sunk underground in the oil facilities and about 300,000 to 500,000 people will be employed and as of today 120,000 Ugandans are already working.
Tackling the Critical Acholi Oil Related Questions
The Director Legal and Corporate Affairs with PUA Ali Ssekatawa identified what he described six oil Acholi questions that include; is there oil in Acholi, how much of the oil and gas is in Acholi, are the Acholi community being marginalized, who owns the oil, how is it going to be exploited and what opportunities are there?
Ssekatawa explained that once production begins in 2025, Uganda National Oil Company which is a government’s agency has been given the mandate to trade oil on behalf of the country and not any other individual or agency.
Under the Public Finance Management Act, it vests ownership of all resources beneath the earth including oil in the government and the proceeds shall be used for economic development irrespective of the region.
Whereas royalties will come after production, the government will retain 94% of the revenue and the remaining 6% shall be shared among local governments located within the oil exploration areas.
The officer however agreed with Sheikh Musa Kelil the deputy Mufti of Uganda for Northern Uganda on how Nwoya would benefit equally with other districts using the parameter of people’s population to allocate revenues.
Given the fact that Nwoya’s oil fields are located in the game park, the need for affirmative action was raised so that it is not left out.
Choice of selecting the Central Processing Facility
As a requirement by the World Heritage Sites, due consideration was made that as little activity as possible is done when extracting oil from the park which explains why there is no much activity in Nwoya District.
The approvals to exploit oil from the park were done on strict conditions. A company should go to the park, put in a straw, get out of the park and do everything else from outside the park in order to safeguard the natural biodiversity within the park.
“So what activities that are being done are what we call the wells and the flow lines. The scientific decision was that do you now first bring a straw for instance in Nwoya and do all the cleaning then you again cross the park to go to the other side?”
“That would have required putting a straw and a central processing facility in Nwoya, then doing another pipeline that crosses the national park to the other side. And the answer is clear on the cost, environment and science. The operations in the park must be as minimal as possible,” Ssekatawa explained.
From the technical view, it was therefore endorsed that a major Central Processing Facility (CFP) be established in Buliisa district for the Tilenga project.
From Buliisa CPF, another flow line goes to Hoima district where the main sharing line is. King Fisher field which is in Hoima and Tilenga will have flow lines connecting to Kabale refinery that sits on 29sq km of land and an airport for cargo goods.
Regarding the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP)
The decision to take up the Tanzania route for EACOP was reached through a public decision which involved the Presidents of Kenya and Tanzania on possible route plans considering factors like security, the cost, the towns it would pass through, the people and the environment.
Through that, Ssekatawa explained that Tanzania emerged as the best without any consideration to bias Acholi in favor of Bunyoro or Buganda.
“The major consideration was that you avoid water bodies, people and look for the least cost route while transporting the oil to Mombasa,” he added.
The officer asked the Acholi to position themselves and form associations and register with the national supply database instead of relying on conspiracies and the usual rhetoric of uninformed claims.
Mineral speculation in Acholi
During the engagement, Eng. Simon Olenge the key convener of the advocacy engagement, raised concerns on high prospects of huge gold deposits and mercury in Omoro district and interested the geologists into doing more exploration.
Olenge also claimed that graphite mining in Orom Sub County, Kitgum district which was already ongoing, locals had raised issues related to environmental pollution and there was no enough information about the project in the public domain.
It was also observed that, in almost all the areas where there are minerals they are an epicenter of land conflict which he blamed on scrupulous people who have prior information and start fueling land wrangles to displace the locals.
However, Vincent Kedi, the Assistant Commissioner License Administration from the Mines Department, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development only confirmed the presence of graphite in Kitgum.
Kedi explained that there are a lot of speculations on mercury presence in the country purportedly planted by the British during the colonial times.
“I need to agree that in this region, we need to do a lot of awareness campaigns so that people know about the Orom project”, he acknowledged
He also clarified that there was due diligence that was done in the process of coming out with the environmental impact assessment that was approved to protect the environment and the people.
Apparently there is ongoing exploration in Pader district to quantify the amount of gold and nickel deposits adding that Omoro does have gold and mercury as it was being alleged.
