Rais wa Uganda Yoweri K.Museveni asaini sheria ya Mafuta nchini humo.

The first oil well that was tested in Uganda then

President Yoweri Museveni has finally signed the Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) Bill, 2012 into law.

          The new law will now be called the Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production Act 2013. According to energy ministry officials, following the approval of the bill by the Uganda Parliament on Dec. 7, Museveni signed the law on March 21 and it was gazetted on April 5.
The new Act automatically repeals the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, CAP 150, in the Laws of Uganda which was enacted in 1985.
This particular law which was modified in 2000 successfully guided the sector through the initial promotion efforts and subsequent licensing of international oil companies that led to the discovery of commercial oil reserves in 2006.
         According to Fred Kabanda, a Principal Geologist and the head of the regulatory unit at the Petroleum Exploration and Production Department in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, the Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) Act 2013 will now become the main law that will regulate petroleum exploration, development and production in the country.
           Kabanda who together with other energy ministry officials met journalists on      April 19 to update them on recent developments in the petroleum sector added that the new law will also guide the establishment of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda and the National Oil Company.
It will also regulate the licensing and participation of commercial entities in Uganda’s petroleum activities.
          Over the last couple of years, major industrial players, especially oil prospecting firms have tended to blame the slow progress of the country’s nascent but promising oil industry on among other factors, the absence of an enabling law to regulate the sector.Similarly, the government in 2006 halted licensing the remainder of its acreage for more prospecting until comprehensive oil laws were enacted by Parliament.
         However, Kabanda noted that Museveni is yet to assent to the second piece of legislation, the Petroleum (Refining, Gas Processing and Conversion, Transportation and Storage Bill, 2012, which was approved by Parliament on Feb.21.The other Bill that completes the oil and gas regulation framework, the Public Finance Bill which has the petroleum revenue management element embedded in it is still before Parliament.

Source:Cliff Mile-Uganda(Independent)