KAMPALA – The Petroleum Authority of Uganda [PAU] has developed a national talent register listing individuals trained and qualified in different fields related to the oil industry.
The on-line database that is also meant to serve as an employment reference point in the emergent oil and gas sector, will list engineers, technicians and skilled workers competent to work in the oil and gas projects.
The register, the first of its kind in the region will also constitute a database of available human capabilities and technical skills in Uganda.
Mr Earnest Rubondo, the Executive Director at PAU while launching the talent register February 1 described the National Oil and Gas Talent Register [NOGTR] as a national supplier database which will serve as a roster for local and international service providers for the sector.
“This talent register will help in streamlining employment in the sector and will be updated periodically,” said Mr Rubondo during the launch at PAU offices’ boardroom. In order to effectively participate in Uganda’s Oil and Gas sector,” he added.
“This launch today will go a long way in complementing the country’s efforts towards employment of Ugandans in Oil and Gas sector; I therefore call upon the potential demand and supply end users to take up the opportunity to register on the NOGTR
He explained that the register is classified into the demand and supply side users indicating that the demand side is for users who consist of companies/government agencies which meet the eligibility criteria and offer employment opportunities in oil and Gas sector and that the supply side is made of individuals who meet eligibility for the workforce demands of Oil and gas and have the potential to be recruited by demand side users.
He explained that the development of the NOGTR is one of the specific initiatives that relates to promoting employment of Ugandan citizens and that it is a fulfilment of the statutory requirement of employing Ugandans in the oil and Gas sector as required under sections 126 and 54 of the Petroleum [Exploration, development and production], b 2013 and petroleum [Refining, conversion, transmission and midstream storage] Act 2013 respectively.
“As well as regulation 31 [1 – 2] of the [Petroleum exploration development and production] national content regulations 2016,” Mr Rubondo added.
He revealed that all the regulations specifically require PAU to maintain and operate a national human capacity register to aid in the monitoring of the human resource capacity for the sector.
This comes at a time when 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.
According to Mr Rubondo, the launch of the NOGTR follows the 2014 industrial baseline survey titled “A survey to foster opportunities for Ugandans in the Oil and Gas sector.” This found that between 100,000 – 150,000jobs would be created over the coming years as the country moves into development and Oil production phases.
The report shows the demand for direct jobs in the petroleum sector rising towards 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.
“This is an exciting time for the country and a key milestone especially that no country in Africa has developed such a system for the oil and gas sector before. This puts Uganda in a unique position and places a lot of responsibility on stakeholders to ensure that the objectives of NOGTR are met,” said Mr Rubondo.
The Launch was attended by skills development partners from ministry of Education and sports, ministry of energy and mineral development, France’s total E & P, Anglo-Irish Tullow Oil, and China’s Cnooc among others.