AS Uganda looks to commercial exploitation of oil deposits, a policy is due to be drawn up for the management of the new industry.

The Ministry of Energy says that there will be a body to make and monitor a policy, a regulator, and a business entity to manage commercial operations. This follows the discovery of commercially viable deposits in the Albertine Graben area of mid-west and north-western Uganda.

There is great urgency as the ministry seeks to mitigate the energy crisis that has been precipitated by the decline in hydro-electric power generation. The ministry has designed an early production scheme, which will include the construction of a mini refinery and a power plant by mid next year.
The policy will aim at the promotion of our oil and gas potential, facilitating the evaluation of the established reserves, and to allow for their exploitation.

The policy as conceived by the ministry seems to be centred more on the technical aspects of management. But there is also a need to consider strategic issues, which may or may not be the remit of the Ministry of Energy.
Wherever this may be, it should be clear from the outset how the reserves will be exploited for the good of the country, for instance how the proceeds can be used for infrastructure development and social service improvements.

Questions like how we can avoid over dependence on oil must be raised and answered convincingly. How shall we prevent a massive, destabilising manpower shift from agriculture to oil, the way it happened say in Nigeria? How can the expectations of local people in the areas around the reserves be met realistically?

How will new export revenues be managed in a way that does not upset macro-economic stability? What lessons are there to learn from others; how much of this is applicable to Uganda? These and many more questions have to be put to rest, which is why the policy needs to be all-embracing.