Ernest Rubondo Appointed Executive Director of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda

Uganda’s ministry of energy and minerals development has announced the appointment of Ernest Rubondo as the first Executive Director of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU followings a recommendation by the Board of Directors of PAU.

The appointment ends a search for the Executive Director which started in January 2016.
The function of PAU is to monitor and regulate exploration, development and production of the petroleum in Uganda roles that have previously been carried out by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development and  will hitherto be taken over the Authority.

Rubondo who is the former director for Petroleum in the Ministry holds a Master of Science degree on Petroleum Reservoir Geology from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in the UK.

He has worked with the Petroleum Exploration and Production Department (PEPD) under the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development since its inception in 1991 and grew through the ranks to become the head of Department in 2009. He later, in 2015, became the Director for Petroleum in the Ministry.

In the course of his career, Rubondo has been a key participant in the promotion of Uganda’s petroleum potential, negotiating the country’s Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs), monitoring the work of licensed oil companies and in negotiating the commercialization avenues for the country’s crude oil.

He has also been heavily involved in the formulation of the country’s legal and regulatory framework including the National Oil and Policy and the recently enacted petroleum industry legislation for Uganda. He will take up the new assignment at the beginning of September, 2016.

“I am confident therefore that Mr. Rubondo’s experience and leadership will be a great resource to the efficient start-up and operationalization of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda,”says the ministry’s permanent secretary Dr. F.A. Kabagambe-Kaliisa.