The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Kabagambe Kalisa says that oil production has not started and will commence in 12-18months from 2012.

While appearing before the adhoc parliamentary committee on oil Tuesday morning, Kalisa said the government and oil companies are currently carrying out a testing program intended to understand how the oil will be produced.

He explained that while some oil has been extracted, it is being stored for testing and will sold later to cement factories and power generation firms.

The PS says the supply of crude oil to the companies will be the second phase in about a year and half, before the government embarks on the 3^rd phase of oil production with construction of a refinery being planned to start in three years.

He says the government is planning to start with a small refinery to produce about 200000 barrels of oil per day for the local market as the oil companies and government to develop capacity.

Kalisa says within 5years, the oil refinery will be able to produce 60000 barrels of oil per day which will be targeted at the regional market.

This, he said will be expanded to a production capacity of 12, 0000 barrels of oil per day in ten years when the country should start exporting oil on the global market.

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The post Government of Uganda outlines oil production program first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

In a press conference Wednesday evening, Museveni said the government is making all efforts to follow due process in awarding contracts to oil companies and ensuring that Ugandans benefit from the oil resources.

Museveni at a press Conference

This follows a special Parliamentary sitting on the oil sector in Uganda which ended today calling for investigations into bribery allegation against senior government ministers who have allegedly given oil companies favourable terms to fleece Ugandans in return to hefty bribes to the ministers.

Museveni tells Journalists that he fully supports investigation on the officials because the government wants to ensure transparency in the oil sector.

The president asked Ministry of Energy and Minerals Permanent Secretary, Kabagambe Kalisa to explain why the oil sharing agreements have not been made public, the major cause of outcry by parliamentarians and Ugandans.

Kalisa explained that oil agreements in most countries have secret clauses because of the nature of the resource and the long process of its exploration, production and distribution.

The Minister of Energy and Minerals, Irene Muloni said it is not true the oil sharing agreements have been kept secret from parliament, insisting that the ministry presented the Production and Oil sharing agreements before Parliament’s Committee on Economy in July 2010.

She however acknowledged that they agreements had to be accessed in accordance to some conditions including the presence of a trusted government official.

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The post President Museveni assures on oil production and sharing agreements first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.