MAINSTREAMING OF GENDER ISSUES IN THE OIL SECTOR

The discovery of vast oil reserves of about 3.5 billion barrels in the Albertine Graben of Uganda has caused excitement across the country and more than a touch of anxiety too.
Mainstreaming of gender issues in the oil sector, particularly with regard to employment, training and compensation programmes are some of the clouds that surround participation of Ugandans in the sector.
Prof.Jackson Mwakali of Makerere University yesterday during a training of journalists from the Albertine region from the African Centre for Media Excellence, ACME, in kampala revealed that opportunities exist for both men and women to have equal opportunities for trainings to enhance their skills and any other jobs that exist in the oil sector.
.Prof. Mwakali adds that Makerere University has recommended that the government puts in place facilities that can enable Uganda to train its own people to work in the sector from the country.This will also give chance to women with family responsibilities to study since families in some communities like Kabaale are extended and Women bear the burden of up-bringing children.
Currently, oil trainings are offered at Makerere University in Kampala and Kigumba Petroleum Institute in Kiryandongo district to build the skills and capacity of Ugandans to be able to offer skilled labour in the oil sector.
He further says that women have a key role to play in the sector either directly or indirectly since they contribute to most productivity in the economy. Women MPs early this year demand¬ed a 40% representation on the board of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda. The women MPs also de¬manded for gender equity in employment and training in the oil sector.
However, Henry Bazira, Chairman Civil Society Coalition on Oil and Gas argues that there is a different way to involve even the grassroot woman and man has a voice through having citizen assemblies that are already on going in some areas in Bulisa district.
Bazira further says that every Ugandan has the capacity to influence policies and laws only that they do not always have the information they require. He acknowledges that gender is a very sensitive issue in any sector of the economic for development and fair play in the country.
PEPD Commissioner Ernest Rubondo says that what should not be forgotten is the community
content principle to motivate the vulnerable/affected communities.
The Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Protection) Bill, 2012 stipulates that the board shall consist of seven members of high moral char¬acter and proven integrity and competence appointed by the petroleum activities minister.

UGANDA, AN ATTRACTIVE DESTINATION FOR INVESTMENT

Uganda is an emerging oil and gas province in the Sub-Saharan Africa and an attractive destination for investment in the upstream and mid-stream sectors.

 Extensive exploration for hydrocarbons during the last decade has established that Uganda’s rift basins contains commercially exploitable reserves of oil and gas and the country is planning to commence production of petroleum in the short term.

The principal prospective area for petroleum in Uganda is the Albertine Graben. It forms the northern most part of the western arm of the East African Rift System, stretching from the border with Sudan in the north to Lake Edward in the south, a distance of over 500km. Uganda shares the Graben with the Democratic Republic of Congo. The part of the Graben that lies in Uganda covers an area of 23,918km2. In this regard, an agreement of cooperation for exploration and exploitation of any common fields between the two countries was entered into in 1990 and updated at the beginning of 2008.

To-date, eighty (80) deep wells have been drilled in the Graben and seventy two (72) of these wells have encountered hydrocarbons in the subsurface. Flow testing of some of the wells with multiple horizons have registered cumulative flow rates in excess of 10,000 bopd. Some of the appraised discoveries confirmed substantial potential for commercially exploitable hydrocarbon accumulation in the Graben. Extended well testing of some of the wells have been conducted to better understand the dynamic behaviour of the reservoirs. Crude oil produced during these tests will be utilized for power generation and for local industrial heating requirement.