Kampala — There are considerable business opportunities in the budding oil sector, members of the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum (UCMP) have been told.

RecentlyUCMP was given a guided tour of the petroleum sites in the Albertine Graben region of western Uganda. The Chamber took 20 of their members on a fact finding mission which they also used to look out for available and future business opportunities.

Edward Gibson Nangono, an employee of Barclays Bank (Uganda) said in spite of

their bank having ongoing interests in the oil industry, he realized that Barclays still had more opportunities in the sector where it could play a big role.

"Whereas we already have some active interest in the oil and gas sector, this trip, has provided me with more clarity on other areas in which Barclays can find value," Nangono said.

Their itinerary included the Mputa Well, near Nyamasoga village, which was the first to be drilled in Uganda. Then came the Ngassa, which is still the deepest well to date and the Bulisa waste management site at Ngara.

They also visited the Kasamene site, where the first oil is stored in bitutainers, the Buliisa Health Center (a Tullow Oil funded CSR project), Total's Mpyo- where drilling of an appraisal well is ongoing, in addition to the Kaiso-Tonya and Buliisa camps.

Uganda is believed to be sitting on an estimated 3.5 billion barrels of crude oil and currently Tullow, Total and CNOOC are the leading companies involved with exploration and extraction of these reserves.

More companies are expected to make an entry into sector when the next round of licensing is announced.

Bashir Hangi, a Petroleum Exploration and Production Department (PEPD)

communication official attached to the Refinery Project said the 29 square kilometres earmarked for the refinery infrastructure presented a number of

opportunities for all sorts of businesses to exploit.

"Construction companies will have a lot of work to do here; so will service providers like logistic firms and financial institutions that will be aiding the constructors," he said.

John C. Musisi, a Consultant with Japanese conglomerate, Sumitomo Corporation said, "I think there are great opportunities in that area. We do infrastructure financing and with the refinery and the pipeline coming up, there are many great opportunities around the corner,"

Damaris Namutebi, the Legal and Admininistration Manager, Environserve formerly known as Green Albertine, agreed that there are plenty of tangible business opportunities.

"I was for instance approached by three companies who showed interest

in us working together. We are in the process of working out the intricacies of how to go about it," he said.

Even before the oil comes out of the ground for commercial use, several companies have already benefited directly or indirectly.

Vik Saini, Director, Excel Construction said, "We have already done some work in the oil and gas sector anyway, like the construction oil rig pads and restoring the sites after the oil companies have done the drilling. We also constructed the Tullow sponsored health centre in Buliisa. Hence we have a commendable track record in this region."