- Partners from East Africa converged in Uganda for the 10th East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition 2023.
- The conference coincides with the journey to implement the EAC Vision 2050, which seeks to ensure a sustainable, adequate, affordable, competitive, secure and reliable supply of energy to meet regional needs at the least cost.
The 2023 edition of the East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition is running under the theme: “East Africa as a hub for Investment in Exploration and Exploitation of Petroleum Resources for Sustainable Energy and Socioeconomic Development. Over the years, the East African Petroleum Conference has provided awareness of the industry’s potential for petroleum production in the region, including technological advancements in exploration, development and production.
President Museveni was represented at the high-level meeting by Vice President Jessica Alupo. In his remarks, the President noted the critical importance of energy for the development and growth of any economy and commended the East African Community for the exploration and development of energy resources available in the region. “Without energy, EAC cannot achieve the intended goals of integration to achieve economic, social and political integration to create wealth in the region and enhance competitiveness through increased production, trade and investment in the oil and gas sector”.
The President also informed the audience of developing a regional power master plan to identify generation and transmission needs to satisfy our electricity demand for the next twenty-five (25) years. “Major electricity projects to interconnect all the East African countries are going on, and we expect to have a fully interconnected East African power network,” Museveni said.
Vice President Jessica Alupo hailed the commitment of President Museveni to making sure oil exploration goes on as planned. Ruth Nankabirwa, the Ugandan Energy Minister, said the Final Investment Decision on the oil refinery was due in June 2023. She thanked the International oil marketing companies, Total Energies and the Chinese National Oil Company (CNOOCUgandaLtd) and other development partners who have continued to walk with Uganda “amidst the energy transitions debate and shrinking sources for financing oil and gas”. She said Uganda was ready to proceed despite previous funders withdrawing their support; “No turning back”. Also, Elly Karuhanga from the Private Sector gave a keynote address and urged Government to “let the Private sector do its work without interference” and urged the Government to eliminate setbacks that slow down exploration activities.