{"id":3232,"date":"2015-08-12T09:47:12","date_gmt":"2015-08-12T09:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/?p=3232"},"modified":"2015-08-12T09:47:12","modified_gmt":"2015-08-12T09:47:12","slug":"global-witness-cautions-four-shortlisted-firms-ugandas-first-licensing-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/global-witness-cautions-four-shortlisted-firms-ugandas-first-licensing-round\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Witness cautions on four shortlisted firms in Uganda\u2019s first licensing round"},"content":{"rendered":"

Transparency body Global Witness while lauding the first licensing round as an step forward for transparency in the country has cautioned on four shortlisted<\/a> companies which it says have a questionable environmental and social track record.<\/p>\n

The four namely Nigeria\u2019s Oranto Petroleum, Russian Africa Global Resources consortium where it questions two companies Telconet Capital Partnership Ltd and RT Global Resources as well as US based Glint Energy.<\/p>\n

Global Witness says the need to scrutinize the companies\u2019 shortlisted stems from the fact that the six new oil blocks<\/a> up for auction are in protected areas, including the Ngaji block on Lake Edward which borders\u00a0Virunga National Park, a UNESCO world Heritage site in the Democratic Republic of Congo.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven that all the blocks overlap with environmentally protected areas the Government must at a minimum publish information on the criteria for selecting companies – including what their environmental and social track record looks like. It should also publish the true owners of these companies and the contracts they sign so that the public can see what kind of deals the Government has negotiated and who will benefit from them,\u201d says George Boden, campaigner at Global Witness.<\/p>\n

The body questions the corrupt past of Oranto Petroleum in Liberia while in American Glint Energy the body questions whether the company has any expertise to explore oil due as it has no known active oil licences and was only reinstated on the 16th\u00a0of July 2015 after it was forfeited for failure to file a tax return and\/or pay state franchise tax in May 2011.<\/p>\n

Global Witness is also against the awarding of Telconet Capital Partnership Ltd as the owners of the company registered in the Cayman Islands are unknown.<\/p>\n

According to a share offering document from November 2012 Telconet is 50% owned by Sergei Adionev who was in 1998 convicted of fraud in the US, ordered to pay restitution of four million dollars to the Government of Kazakhstan, and sentenced to 30 months in prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the ownership of Telconet is currently unclear Global Witness calls on the Government of Uganda to release details of the final beneficial owners of all companies involved in the bidding process,\u201d Global Witness further says.<\/p>\n

The company has also questioned the increasing participation of RT Global Resources a wholly owned subsidiary of giant state owned Russian arms and industrial company Rostec which has in the recent past been selected as the preferred bidder for the refinery<\/a> deal and whose mother company has sold jets and tanks to the East African country in the past five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ugandan Government should clarify whether there is any relationship between the refinery deal, the upstream bidding round or arms deals,\u201d Global Witness concludes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Transparency body Global Witness while lauding the first licensing round as an step forward for transparency in the country has cautioned on four shortlisted companies which it says have a … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":2905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[3273,3488,1022,3498,2200,3499,3497,2603],"class_list":["post-3232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news","tag-first-licensing-round","tag-glint-energy","tag-global-witness","tag-oranto-petroleum","tag-rt-global-resources","tag-sergei-adionev","tag-telconet-capital-partnership-ltd","tag-uganda","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Uganda-oil-blocks.png?fit=446%2C628&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5JWkQ-Q8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3125,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/17-companies-shortlisted-ugandas-first-licensing-round-petroleum-exploration-development-production\/","url_meta":{"origin":3232,"position":0},"title":"17 companies shortlisted for Uganda’s First Licensing Round for Petroleum Exploration, Development and Production","author":"","date":"July 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Following the end of a deadline for the Process of receiving the Request for Qualification ended on 30th June, 2015 the Ministry has said it has registered\u00a0seventeen valid applicants\u00a0out of the nineteen applicants\u00a0that had registered for licenses in six blocks in the Albertine Basin. The six blocks on offer are;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Top News"","block_context":{"text":"Top News","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/top-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Uganda oil blocks","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Uganda-oil-blocks.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3228,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/uganda-government-shortlists-16-firms-first-petroleum-licensing-round\/","url_meta":{"origin":3232,"position":1},"title":"Uganda Government Shortlists 16 firms in First Petroleum Licensing Round","author":"","date":"August 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The government of Uganda has announced that it has concluded the evaluation of Applications for Qualification from the 17 firms that submitted the Applications following a successful First Licensing Round for Petroleum Exploration, Development and Production. According to Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy & Mineral Development Dr. F.A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Top News"","block_context":{"text":"Top News","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/top-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/uganda-with-flag.jpg?fit=400%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3892,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/uganda-issues-bid-documents-to-16-companies-under-the-first-licensing-round\/","url_meta":{"origin":3232,"position":2},"title":"Uganda issues bid documents to 16 companies under the First licensing round","author":"","date":"October 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Government of Uganda (GOU) through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development has issued the bidding document to the 16 Qualified Applicants which were successful following the evaluation of applications from 19 companies that had applied in the Request for Qualification stage. The bidding document comprise of Request for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Top News"","block_context":{"text":"Top News","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/top-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/oil-discoveries-Uganda.png?fit=436%2C614&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4439,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/nigerian-australian-companies-dominate-uganda-bids-round\/","url_meta":{"origin":3232,"position":3},"title":"Nigerian, Australian Companies Dominate Uganda Bids Round","author":"","date":"March 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Three of seven firms that have submitted bids for the next round of licensing in Uganda\u2019s licensing round are from Nigeria according to the ministry of energy. Among the companies include WalterSmith Petroman Oil Limited, Oranto Petroleum International Ltd, Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Ltd \u00a0all from Nigeria as well as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Top News"","block_context":{"text":"Top News","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/top-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Uganda-oil-blocks.png?fit=446%2C628&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5238,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/ugandas-refinery-project-hits-major-setback\/","url_meta":{"origin":3232,"position":4},"title":"Uganda\u2019s Refinery Project Hits Major Setback","author":"","date":"October 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Uganda\u2019s Assistant Commissioner in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development Dozith Abeinomugisha has said the government is back to the market to look for a new investor after the alternate bidder SK Engineering and Construction backed out following the exit of the preferred lead investor Russia\u2019s RT Global Resources\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Top News"","block_context":{"text":"Top News","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/top-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/chad-refinery-museveni.jpg?fit=960%2C642&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/chad-refinery-museveni.jpg?fit=960%2C642&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/chad-refinery-museveni.jpg?fit=960%2C642&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/chad-refinery-museveni.jpg?fit=960%2C642&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4609,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/ugandas-first-licensing-round-down-to-seven-bidders\/","url_meta":{"origin":3232,"position":5},"title":"Uganda’s First Licensing Round down to seven bidders","author":"","date":"April 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development has received seven bidders for the blocks in Albertine Graben which were put up for licensing with the deadline for submission set for 26th February 2016. 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