Mary Karugaba
8 August 2007
Kampala — MPS have asked the Government to pull out of a joint oil exploration agreement it signed with the late Congolese President, Mobutu Sese Seko.
This would solve the current oil conflict on Lake Albert, they said.
Briefing MPs on the natural resource committee, energy minister Daudi Migereko explained that under the agreement, they would share information on the oil deposits.
He, however, said it was affected when Uganda's relations with Congo deteriorated and Uganda moved faster than Congo in the explorations.
Migereko said the agreement was supposed to prevent suspicion among the two countries since the oil deposits were in both countries, with some running across the boundaries.
"This agreement has been running well until we had problems with Congo and interaction reduced. We must take advantage of the agreement to have information on the oil."
MP John Kigyagi, however, asked if Uganda could pull out of the agreement.
"Is it possible for us to pull out since the Congolese government seems to be moving slowly yet we are already ahead and have a lot of oil?"
Kigyagi also wondered whether the fact that the same oil exploration companies were operating in countries would not create problems.
Migereko said the Government preferred to continue with the agreement since the problem was created by a slow-down in the flow of information.
"It was agreed that the Congolese oil technical team meets our team, but this has never materialised. But we shall revive the issue."
He added that the Government had invited the Congolese Foreign Affairs Minister to address the issue and it had also beefed up security around the lake.
The conflict, he said, would not affect the oil production because the companies had not yet got exploration licenses from Congo.
Four oil companies have been licensed to carry out the oil exploration in western Uganda.
These are Heritage Oil and Gas Limited, Tullow Oil Plc, Neptune Petroleum and Dominion Petroleum.
The ministry's permanent secretary, Fred Kaliisa, said more oil had been discovered but would not divulge the quantity.
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