NEWS ANALYSIS

Cleaning
up oil
E



By Ronald Musoke

n 2009, the international independent oil


then based in Calgary Canada, needed
a site to dump thousands of tonnes of oil
waste from its exploration activities in
Uganda. It was sinking prospecting wells in
the northern Uganda area of the Albertine
-
wach Basin, the site of one of the biggest oil
wells. When Heritage approached Douglas
Oluoch, a peasant farmer in Gwot Apwoyo
in Purongo Sub-County, Nwoya District

US$375) to allow it dump the solid waste on
his land, he thought it was a good deal. The
reality Oluoch did not know was that he
was signing himself into trouble. When en-
vironmental protection organisations learnt
of the deal and exposed its dangers, Oluoch
became a pariah in his community. Sudden-
ly, Oluoch says, his village-mates refused to

was polluted with oil waste toxins.
Before the Oluoch incident, Heritage had
since 2005, when its explorations begun,
been dumping thousands of tonnes of oil
waste in Pubit village, also in Purongo Sub-
County.
The environmental organisation activists
started talking of a Niger Delta scenario
in reference to anticipated pollution. They
told villagers that oil and gas exploration
activities generate solid, liquid, and gaseous
pollutants that can damage the air, soil, and
ground water. Some of the pollutants like
arsenic, lead, mercury, and zinc are harm-
ful to humans and animal life that feed on
plants and water in polluted areas.
Guided by environmental protec-
tion organisations, the villagers of Gwot
Apwoyo mounted a campaign to rid their
area of the oil waste. This area is also in
proximity to Ugandas biggest wildlife
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May 08 - 14, 2015

Ahlem Friga Noy, the Corporate Affairs Manager of Total E &P Uganda speaks with a guest during
the opening of the Nyamasoga oil waste treatment plany on April 23. COURTESY PHOTO
reserve; the Murchison Falls Conservation
-

Heritage left in 2009 without cleaning up the
waste. In 2011, the French oil major, Total
SA, which is the current holder of the oil
exploration license, also found itself a target
of environmental watchdogs when it took
over the area.
At the time, Uganda did not have guide-
lines for oil and gas operations waste man-
agement. These came later in a 2012 docu-

theory than in practice as Uganda did not
-
-
ment facility. But this story might have a
good ending. On April 23, Uganda got its
-
ty. Located at Nyamasoga village, Buseruka
Sub County, in Hoima District, the new
$20 million (Shs60 billion) facility which is
owned and run by the South African con-


already brought relief to Oluoch. The plant
is about 200kms away along the newly built
Hoima-Kaiso Tonya Road.



mess in Purongo, Nwoya District. Grant

Ltd, says all the waste from Purongo has
been taken away and tests done.

Oluochs farmland was declared clean

and safe, according to Caroline, and the

Uganda and natural vegetation will soon be
planted.


facility is a milestone in the development of
infrastructure required in the development
of Ugandas oil and gas sector.
Uganda is already known for adhering
to high industry standards, she said, As
a company, Total always adheres to legal
compliance [as well as] company, national,
regional and international standards.
The oil waste facility comes at a time
when Uganda recently announced the long
awaited licensing round for more petroleum
exploration in six blocks of the Albertine
Graben, meaning once exploration starts,
more volumes of waste is expected to be
generated.
And although production has been
delayed, when oil extraction eventually
starts, towards the end of the decade, more
oil waste will be generated, meaning that
competent companies that can ably handle
waste treatment, storage and disposal are
needed in the country.
About 300,000 tonnes of drill waste is
expected to be produced when oil produc-
-
ronmental Manager, Phillipe Bouzet told
the sector publication; Oil in Uganda, last
November. Hundreds of wells are expected

NEWS ANALYSIS
to be drilled when oil production starts,
with each well producing varied amounts of
waste depending on depth.
During the exploration phase in which
about 80 wells were drilled along the coun-
trys western frontier (Albertine Rift), tens
of thousands of tonnes of waste were gener-
ated.
Oil drill waste is normally made up of
mud and rock which is removed as the
machines cut into the earth. These together
with chemical additives that are poured
down the well to assist in the drilling form
what is called oil waste.

The new plant

Caroline told The Independent that the

plant will take waste for the next 20 years
although its lifespan will essentially
decrease or increase depending on the
amount of waste it receives when oil pro-
duction begins in earnest.

of land and the new plant uses just a tiny
portion of that. The remaining land will be
for future development which include waste
minimization and or reuse processes.

alternative waste treatment methods, then
we will add them to the facility, he said.
-
national, has over 35 years experience in

in several internationally recognised man-

agement systems. It currently operates in
Angola, Botswana, DR Congo, Kenya, Leso-
tho, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South
Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia.
-
ity design are waste treatment area contain-
ment; contaminated storm water control,

design.
The facility analyses, treats, and disposes
both waste water and other liquids from
both the oil and gas installations and other
industries. It includes a waste water treat-
ment plant, a laboratory, a hazardous land-

in waste recycling, re-use, recovery and

reduction will be added beginning next year

based on market requirements.
Schalk Van Heerden, the Laboratory
Manager at the plant told The Independent
during the launch that the laboratories
are able to analyze all hazardous waste

treatment plant incorporates four phases of

-
tion, reverse osmosis and pH adjustment.

water recovered to the level of drinking.

is made to the level of drinking, Heerden
said, But we dont use it for drinking due to
peoples tastes so we could use it for water-
ing plants. For solid waste, the site has a

been further subdivided into two, making

the total number eight where solid waste

wells for underground water to compare

wells have been established with the sole
purpose of monitoring underground water
-

20 years with a post closure monitoring of a
further 30 years.
By April when it was launched, the facil-
ity had about 40 fulltime employees who
have got specialised training in South Africa
and according to Caroline; the plan is to
make the company a fully Ugandan-run

The only foreign expert remaining for

another year is one who will be training

equipment, he said.




-




permit after receiving an operating license
-
struction of the facility in April, 2014.
Benon Tusingwire, the executive director
of the Hoima-based local NGO, Navigators
of Development Association (NAVODA),
said the communities no longer have to

worry about having oil waste disposed in

their midst. People around Kaiso used to
feel a stench from the liquid waste holding
facilities which are quite near, he says,
Communities were anxious that rain
would somehow wash the liquid waste into
their homesteads and gardens.
Still, Tusingwire hopes more treatment
facilities will be set in areas closer to the
shores of Lake Albert and inside Murchison
Falls National Park where the oil wells are
located. He mentions Ngassa II which is

although its well head is onshore at Kaiso
Tonya.
There are more than 30 wells in wildlife
reserves according to the Uganda Wildlife
Authoritya development which has
always put conservation agencies at log-
gerheads with both the government and oil
companies.

-
munities and discuss any concerns. Joseline

Hoima District told The Independent that
right from the start, the community has
worked with the company and the people
are not worried. Nyangoma said the people
know what the facility does and what kind
of waste is brought there. They are mainly

-
mation. In 2012, people in neighbouring
Buliisa District rejected a request by Tullow
Oil Uganda to have a waste consolidation
site in the midst of their community.
-
tor told The Independent that going for-
ward, oil companies are expected to transfer
all the oil waste that has for years been kept
at the consolidation sites to Nyamasoga.

-
nies up to June to transport the waste from
the consolidation sites to this facility which
can handle up to one million tonnes of solid
waste.
Caroline told The Independent that
already the company has responded to ten-
der notices from Tullow Oil and CNOOC.


Consults, and SLL. They are expected to
acquire land, build and own the infrastruc-
ture, and operate the facility.

Some of the tanks where stabilization of liquid waste is done at the facility
May 08 - 14, 2015

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