The Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAOU), also known as the Uganda National Petroleum Authority, is governmental organisation that regulates the petroleum industry in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

, the third-largest economy in the

East African Community The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of seven countries in the Great Lakes region of East Africa: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republics of Kenya, Burundi, ...

. Its responsibilities include licensing, regulation, supervision of exploration, harvesting, refining, marketing, and disposal of petroleum products in the country. Although owned by the Ugandan government, it is expected to act independently.

Overview

The law authorising the creation of PAOU is known as the Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) Act 2013. It was passed by the Ugandan parliament on 7 December 2012 and was assented to by the

president of Uganda The president of the Republic of Uganda is the head of state and the head of government of Uganda. The president leads the executive branch of the government of Uganda and is the commander-in-chief of the Uganda People's Defence Force. The in ...

on 12 March 2013. The law was gazetted on 15 April 2013. PAOU was established once the president named its

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

and once Uganda's parliament approved the board members. In August 2017, PAOU advertised 37 mainly managerial positions, in preparation for first oil, at that time expected in 2020.

Location

The headquarters of PAOU is at 34-36 Lugard Avenue, in

Entebbe Entebbe is a city in Central Uganda. Located on a Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda prior to independence, in 1962. The c ...

, on the northern shores of

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...

. The coordinates of the headquarters of the authority are:0°03'15.0"N, 32°28'52.0"E (Latitude:0.054167; Longitude:32.481111).

Governance

The chairperson of the board is Jane Mulemwa, a Ugandan chemist and academic. Other members of the board are Bernard Ongodia, Kevin Aanyu,

Noble Banadda Noble Banadda (14 May 1975 – 1 July 2021) was a Ugandan biosystems engineer, researcher and academic, who was a professor of biosystems engineering at Makerere University, Uganda's largest and oldest public university. He was appointed a ful ...

, Lynda Biribonwa, Doreen Kabasindi Wandera and

Kiryowa Kiwanuka Kiryowa Kiwanuka Nsumikambi Mugambe, commonly known as Kiryowa Kiwanuka, is a Ugandan lawyer, businessman and politician who serves as the Attorney General of Uganda in the Ugandan Cabinet. He was appointed to that position on 8 June 2021, re ...

. In June 2016, Ernest Rubondo was appointed as executive director and chief executive officer of PAOU. Having served the prescribed four years, the first board was disbanded and a new board was appointed and sworn in, in 2020.

Other considerations

In January 2019, the

Cabinet of Uganda There are 32 Cabinet ministers and 50 Ministers of State in the Cabinet of Uganda (2021 to 2026). According to Section 111 of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda, as amended in 2005, "There shall be a Cabinet which shall consist of the President, t ...

made a decision "to formally join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) as a member state". According to the government spokesperson, the decision was intended "to enhance the revenue collection process, boost finances and minimize mismanagement of oil and gas revenue".

References

External links