DEI – The Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU) has launched a programme to train small and medium enterprises (SMEs) located in the 10 Ugandan districts where the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) will pass. The authority is looking at preparing the businesses to take advantage of the opportunities from the construction of the oil pipeline.
The business development training will be conducted by experts from the Stanbic Business Incubator, Solid Rock Life and Business, Living Earth Uganda and Conexus Oil & Gas in each district.
The export pipeline, will traverse the 10 districts of Hoima, Kikuube, Kakumiro, Kyankwanzi, Gomba, Mubende, Lwengo, Sembabule, Kyotera and Rakai en route to the Tanga port of Tanzania.
Interested SMEs are required to pick application forms from the office of their District Commercial Officer or download it off the Living Earth Uganda website.
“A $500,000 grant was secured from the African Development Bank last year to support capacity development of 200 micro, small and medium enterprises along the EACOP route. The PAU will supervise implementation of this project, which will last two years,” Ernest Rubondo, the PAU Executive Director, announced at a media briefing recently.
Following the conclusion of various agreements required to take forward the oil projects, a number of Tier 1 contracts have been awarded. The SMEs, however, will be targeting the smaller subcontracts from the bigger, well-established engineering companies once the construction of the pipeline commences.
An illustration of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) route
PAU’s desire to meet national content aspirations has seen the supply of 16 categories of goods and services to the sector reserved for Ugandan entities. These include: transportation, security, foods and beverages, hotel accommodation and catering, human resource management, office supplies, fuel supply, land surveying, clearing and forwarding, crane hire, locally available construction materials, civil works, the supply of locally available drilling and production materials, environment studies and impact assessment, communications and information technology services and waste management services to the extent possible.
This training is intended to enhance the capacities of the SMEs because the oil and gas sector is highly competitive and requires internationally-recognized standards and quality.
Ugandans have been able to provide goods and services worth over $1 billion out of the total investment into the sector of US$ 3.7 billion as at the end of 2021. At least $10 billion to $15 billion is expected to be invested in Uganda’s oil industry before the country starts producing oil in 2025.
