Ever since Ugandans learnt of the discovery of oil in the Albertine region of Hoima district over 10 years ago, many have been eager to work in the oil and gas sector of the country. And despite the exploration process taking long to start off, there has been an increase in the number of Petroleum professionals in the country since then.
However, given that the number of graduates across the country keeps rising every year – without a similar rise in the jobs available, in addition to government relying on foreigners to work, you can’t fail to worry about the jobs available in the sector.
To solve the puzzle, the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU) has unveiled the electronic National Oil and Gas Talent Register (NOGTR), with an aim of promoting employment of Uganda Citizens in the oil and gas sector.
The register is a free online platform where all Ugandans and foreign nationals with credentials will be able to upload their CVs, and apply for jobs in the sector. It will all give the applicants an opportunity to be alerted in case there are oil and gas opportunities available.
This comes as Uganda prepares to begin construction of infrastructure to have first oil out of the ground. The Infrastructure developments estimated at $20 billion and expected create jobs.
Mr Earnest Rubondo, the Executive Director at PAU, said that the launch of the register is a result of the 2014 industrial baseline survey titled “A survey to foster opportunities for Ugandans in the Oil and Gas sector.” The study estimated between 100,000 to 150,000 jobs that would be created as the country moves into development and Oil production phases.
It shows that the direct jobs in the petroleum sector will rise in the second year of development and peaking 13,000 direct jobs in the third year before gradually falling to 3000 jobs in the fifth year.
According to PAU some of the job areas like security, catering, foods and beverages, human resource, hotel management, clearing and forwarding, transportation among others are reserved for Ugandans.
Uganda’s oil and gas sector
Uganda has close to 6.5 billion barrels of reserves of oil which were discovered in the Albertine Graben, Uganda’s main source of Oil, with over 21 oil fields – 14 of these are already under development.
The first oil was expected by 2020 but a delay in the decision making and failure of government to agree with oil companies has pushed the date to 2022.
To date, France’s total E & P, Anglo-Irish Tullow Oil, China’s Cnooc and new entrants Australia’s Armour Energy and Nigeria’s Oranto Petroleum are all in Uganda for Oil exploration.
