There is need to invest in local capacity to accelerate oil and gas exploration in the region, experts have said.

During the ongoing East African Petroleum conference taking place in Kigali, the experts argued that tapping into local skills will help boost the sector’s competitiveness on the global market.

It’s critical that regional governments invest heavily in local capabilities, value addition and technological transfers in order to strengthen the oil and gas sectors, the experts said, adding that this will help create more employment opportunities.

The four-day meeting organised jointly by Rwanda’s ministries of East African Community Affairs and Natural Resources attracted about 500 participants, including oil and gas experts and policymakers.

Beatus Rwechungura, an energy expert from BG East Africa, one of the leading companies in oil and gas exploration in Africa, said there is need to align the sector with other sectors of the economy such as agriculture, industry, health and education among others, to fully benefit local citizens.

He added that mechanisms to foster joint ventures between local companies and international investors must be in place for efficient technological transfers.

Betty Namubiru, the head of petroleum exploration and production department in Uganda, said there is need to strike a balance between the skills a country can offer and what the industry requires.

"This can only be achieved through, sustained training programmes and strengthening the existing institutions,” she argued.

Governments must, therefore, provide incentives to strengthen institutions of learning and encourage institutional and individual capacity building, Namubiru added.

Evoda Imena, Rwanda’s State Minister for Mining, said there are less than 10 oil and gas industry engineers in the country.

However, government has already sent more than 40 students abroad to acquire expertise in the oil and gas industry.

Lilian Waweru, the corporate lawyer, National Oil Corporation of Kenya, noted that it’s imperative that governments negotiate petroleum agreements that promote local content development.

"This can be achieved through strong legal frameworks that fortify these obligations as a means of building capacity required to leverage on the opportunities in the oil and gas industry,” Waweru added.

There are more than 130 billion barrels of unexploited oil in Africa with about 2.3 billion barrels in East African Community alone.

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