Uganda Urged to Build Comprehensive Methane Controls Before First Oil

Uganda is being urged to build comprehensive methane controls before first oil, with stronger monitoring, regulation and enforcement across the petroleum sector.

Uganda is being urged to strengthen methane management before commercial oil production begins, with the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) calling for a detailed national roadmap covering monitoring, reporting, verification, leak detection, emissions-reduction targets and institutional responsibilities across the petroleum sector. NRGI argues that methane should be managed from the start of production and recommends that Uganda establish a comprehensive framework by 2027 covering the expected life of oil extraction.

Uganda must strengthen methane management before commercial oil production begins

The recommendation does not mean methane controls were entirely absent from earlier environmental assessment or petroleum regulation. Rather, it points to a gap between recognising methane as an environmental risk and having a detailed, enforceable system governing how operators measure, report and reduce emissions. That distinction matters because Uganda has spent years developing Tilenga, Kingfisher and associated infrastructure under intense environmental scrutiny. If methane risks were already understood within project-level environmental management and wider climate policy, the more difficult question is why the detailed sector-wide management architecture is still being assembled on the eve of production.

The issue also exposes a wider fragmentation in Uganda’s methane governance. Methane is not unique to petroleum: it arises from landfills, wastewater, agriculture and other activities, and poor management can create both climate and safety risks. Uganda already regulates some of these sources separately, but the renewed focus on petroleum methane highlights the absence of a visibly coherent cross-sector approach. The policy challenge may therefore be broader than developing another oil-sector framework: it is ensuring that methane is measured, managed and enforced consistently wherever significant emissions occur.