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Uganda: MPs Push Govt to Disclose Oil Sharing Deals
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The Monitor (Kampala)
13 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Yasiin Mugerwa
Members of Parliament yesterday demanded that the government discloses the Production Sharing Agreements signed with the various companies exploring for petroleum in western Uganda.
The Parliamentary Natural Resources Committee Chairperson, Mr Emmanuel Dombo (NRM, Bunyole) told reporters yesterday that his Committee was concerned because the government "is keeping oil exploration agreements away from the public".
"We want all the contracts here," Mr Dombo said. "It's not clear why the government is dragging its feet to bring all these agreements to Parliament for scrutiny."
Mr Dombo said officials in the Ministry of Energy have only managed to bring one agreement. However, the committee is not aware of the total number of contracts the government signed with oil exploration companies.
"We have so far received only one contract and we are yet to look at it," Mr Dombo said. "But it's complex because we don't know how many contracts they have signed. The public has a right to know how the sharing of their oil is going to be handled."
But the State Minister for Energy, Mr Simon D'ujanga denied keeping oil contracts secret. "There is nothing to hide," Mr D'ujanga said. "We have presented one contract to the committee and the remaining three contracts will also be presented to them."
In July 2004 the government signed Production Sharing Agreements with Energy Africa, (which was later acquired by Tullow Oil, an independent oil and gas exploration, development and production company), in respect of Block 1 (Waraga), an exploration area that covers the northern part of Lake Albert and the surrounding onshore area.
Although Mr D'ujanga has promised to avail other contracts, in March, 2007, his senior colleague, Mr Daudi Migereko, told MPs that the Attorney General had to be consulted before the oil exploration contracts could be taken to Parliament.
"We have confidential clauses within the contracts and as a government, we cannot just divulge confidentiality. We are not hiding anything from MPs but we think this is the right thing to do," Mr Migereko said then.
Interestingly, sources on the committee told Daily Monitor yesterday that to disclose the first agreement; the MPs on the committee had already threatened to block the 2008/09 Budget for the Energy Ministry.
"They were under duress," a source said. "We had resolved to block their budget until we get the documents regarding these oil sharing agreements."
In a separate interview, Mr Livingstone Okello-Okello (UPC, Chwa) said; "We have a right to have access to these contracts and the issue of confidentiality is uncalled for. We want to know the government obligations in the deal and how our people are going to benefit.
On March 1, Heritage Oil Company said in a statement that final tests from Kingfisher 1, one of the oil wells in the Western region indicate that a maximum of 13,893 barrels of oil per day could be produced. Commercial petroleum extraction is to begin in the second half of 2009, according to the government and Tullow.
The initial production phase is to be limited to a few thousand barrels, just enough to feed a 50MW thermal power plant.
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There has been an argument since the oil discovery was made public in early 2006 on how to turn the hidden treasure into a blessing instead of a curse to the country.
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