The Ugandan government has issued standards that sector players in the oil industry will be required to adhere to. The 195 standards are expected to be adhered to by suppliers, exploration companies, oil companies, the oil refinery and distributors of refined products even as the country prepares to start oil production by a projection of 2020.
“Uganda currently imports all its petroleum products requirements from overseas. In order to guide the importation of products and foster local production of petroleum, there was a need to develop a wide range of standards for the petroleum sector,” said Ms Patricia Ejalu, the deputy executive director Technical Operations at the Uganda National Bureau of Standard (UNBS) at the launch last week.
The development of the standards started in 2009, jointly drafted by the ministry of Energy and UNBS. This concludes the final phase of the regulatory process of the oil and gas sector.
Oil reserves in the country
Uganda has proven reserves of oil estimated at 6.5 billion barrels with 1.8 billion barrels considered to be recoverable over the next 25 years.
The standards are expected to define how operations take place.
