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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Petroleum Authority of Uganda has tipped 200 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to tap the numerous business opportunities available in the oil and gas sector at the midstream stage.
The enterprises specializing in construction, engineering and ICT were told to position themselves to supply and bid for civil engineering works in the construction of the Kingfisher project, Tilenga project and the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline.
Ernest Rubondo, the Executive Director of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda asked some 200 representatives of Small and Medium Enterprises intending to participate in the sector to start putting their houses in order ahead of time.
Rubondo said the engineering, ICT and the construction sectors have been identified as the sectors that will derive the most value for Ugandans from the oil and gas sector.
Speaking at a National Content Mobilization clinic organized by Stanbic Bank business incubation program on Thursday, Rubondo tipped the companies to tap the numerous construction opportunities, metal fabrication, Welding and supply of goods and services in the industry.
During the clinic, the small and medium enterprises heard from companies already providing engineering, construction and ICT services in the oil and gas sector as well as the International Oil Companies Total E&P and China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) and the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC).
Pierre Real-Paris, the Total E&P Uganda Upstream Project Manager said some of the available opportunities are in supply of sand, aggregates, construction materials and upgrades of Airports and Camps for Oil Companies.
Real-Paris said some of the opportunities will be sub contracted to Ugandan small and Medium Companies while others will be shared with Oil Companies and International Companies. He says the civil works can employ up to about 6,000 Ugandans in some areas.
“Some of the available works will require very specific specialized equipment which only few Companies are capable of supplying around the world while there will be others that can be subcontracted to Ugandan companies” he stated.
Timothy Kigaikara, the Acting National Content Manager of CNOOC Uganda said the National Content Regulations 2016 gazettes some Civil works for Ugandans including Pre-Drilling Civil Works, Development of the King Fisher Oil Field Infrastructure, King Fisher Oil Field Treatment Facilities and Development of King Fisher Oil Pipeline Feeder Line.
“The jobs include site preparation, camp upgrades, transportation, supply of construction materials such as Cement, aggregates and sand. Others will include security and Medical services”, he stated.
The others are Construction of 50 Project Affected Persons Resettlement Houses under the second phase of Resettlement Action Plan (RAP). Overall, the Oil and Gas Sector is expected to inject 20 Billion US Dollars into the economy over the next five years. There is optimism that domestic companies can tap and retain up to US Dollars 6 Billion every year.
Tilenga Project is for evacuation of Crude Oil from the Albertine Graben to the Central Processing Facility in Hoima District while the King Fisher Project refers to the oil production infrastructure to be established within Buhuka Parish along the south-eastern side of Lake Albert in Kikuube District and a feeder pipeline transporting oil from Buhuka to a delivery point at the proposed Kabaale Industrial Park in Hoima District.
The major components of the project include four onshore Well Pads, a Central Processing Facility (CPF), Production flow lines and water injection flowlines linking the wells to the CPF, Lake water abstraction station, supporting infrastructure such as camps, a materials yard, a jetty and internal access road among others; and a feeder pipeline to transport the stabilized crude from the Central Processing Facility (CPF) to a delivery point in Kabaale.
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