Alphonse Rutazigwa
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 07th October, 2023: The 10th East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition 2023 (EAPCE’23) will be held from 9th to 11th May, 2023 in Kampala, Uganda. The conference organized by the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat and the EAC Partner States is expected to attract more than 1,000 participants.
The 2023 edition of the biennial conference under the theme East Africa as a hub for Investment in Exploration and Exploitation of Petroleum Resources for Sustainable Energy and Socioeconomic Development, aims at promoting the region’s petroleum potential and investment opportunities.
The last nine Petroleum Conferences have proven a valuable forum for governments and petroleum industry players from around the world to dialogue. According to the EAC Secretary General, Hon. (Dr.) Peter Mathuki, while the conference provides a forum for dialogue for all players in the Petroleum industry regionally and internationally, the 2023 edition of the Conference is also in line with the Community’s broad goal to achieve economic, social and political integration so as to create wealth in the region and enhance competitiveness through increased production, trade and investment in the oil and gas sector. The EAC Vision 2050 seeks to ensure sustainable, adequate, affordable, competitive, secure and reliable supply of energy to meet regional needs at the least cost.
“The region will emphasize access, capacity, efficiency and sustainability of energy in the region, by 2050, the EAC has the target of transforming the energy landscape to be characterized by, among other things, efficient distribution of petroleum products with sufficient strategic reserves,” said Dr. Mathuki. Held since 2003, the East African Petroleum Conferences have provided increasing awareness of the potential for petroleum production in the region and other important issues in the petroleum sector, including technological advancements in exploration, development and production.
Delegates can expect high quality technical presentations and exhibitions from a wide spectrum of players from the petroleum sector. The conference programme integrates field excursions to selected sites in each Partner State for delegates to see the rich geological variety that the region possesses as well as the tourist attractions that the region is well known for. EAPCE’23 will take place at a time when the EAC has embarked on a journey to implement the Vision 2050.
The objective of the energy sector development under the EAC Vision 2050 is to ensure sustainable, adequate, affordable, competitive, secure and reliable supply of energy to meet regional needs at the least cost. By 2050, the region’s target is to transform the energy landscape to be characterised by efficient distribution of petroleum products with sufficient strategic reserves.
