KAMPALA, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese training institute in Uganda on Thursday trained legislators on the oil and gas industry as the east African country gears up for commercial production.
Sunmaker Oil and Gas Training Institute trained about 25 members of the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources, introducing them to the legal components of the sector.
The legislators were also given a lecture on the introduction of the oil and gas sector, comparing the industry to others across the world.
"This helps us so much as a committee in terms of engaging with the different players. This is more than an eye opener," Thomas Tayebwa, one of the legislators told Xinhua.
"We need to do it for all the parliament and some government officials who are in decision making."
"We are going to push government to give us more training because we are the ones who decide on the laws, policies, the budget regarding this sector but we are ill equipped in terms of doing our oversight role," Tayebwa added.
Jerry Bo Ma, executive director of the institute, told the legislators that although there are renewable energy sources, the oil sector still plays a critical role in the development of countries.
He said the institution continues to train more Ugandans in the sector.
Uganda is expected to start commercial production of oil by 2022. The country plans to build a crude oil pipeline to the Tanzania seaport of Tanga and also a refinery in the oil wells in the Albertine Graben in western Uganda.
Ministry of energy and mineral development statistics show that Uganda has so far discovered about 6.5 billion barrels of oil.
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