Rreports Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City

Drilling for oil and gas in Rukungiri and Kanungu districts has started.

The exercise is being undertaken by Dominion Petroleum Company at Rwenshama and Rweisigiro sites in Bwambara sub-county in Rukungiri and Kameme in Kanungu.

Excavation works at one of the sites in Rukungiri district

Dominion signed an agreement with the Government in 2007 to explore for oil and gas in the area.

Andrew Nyakaana, the liaison officer, told Rukungiri district leaders during a tour of the oil fields that the firm had invested billions of shillings into the exercise.

The exercise will involve sinking a rig where oil wells have been spotted to determine its volume.

Nyakaana conducted the district officials around the affected villages.
He revealed that his company would repair the feeder roads in the area to ease accessibility.

He said Dominion had started compensating the people whose crops were destroyed when the firm was opening up new roads and the site where the drilling will take place.

Rwesigiro residents are the most affected.

Nyakaana, however, said the pronged rain has delayed the exercise, but was optimistic that when the rain subsides, the works will continue uninterrupted.

He told the leaders led by the Rukungiri LC5 chairman, Zedikia Karokora, that an aerial survey conducted in 2009 provided good prospects for exploration in EA-4B block.

Meanwhile, the exercise has created down-stream jobs for drivers, cooks, causal labourers.

According to Dominion officials, the local residents have the first priority to the jobs.

The true potential of the Ugandan side of Lake Albert is nearer two billion barrels, making it one of the top 50 oil producers in the world.

Oil finds have already been made in the Bunyoro region.

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