Land Access and Compensation Process During The Exploration and Appraisal Phase in Uganda: A Constant Challenge Against Operational Delays and Compliance With International Best Practices
Authors: Michel Olivier , Muyobo Marion , Leroy Anne-Sophie 
Published: March 2016

The challenge of gaining access to land, within the framework of oil and gas activities, is a subject of an increasing importance during exploration prospects which are located more and more frequently in densely populated areas.

This paper shall address the complexities of land access in Uganda during exploration. These permitting activities during exploration are not always identified as being highly sensitive yet they have the potential to quickly turn into costly stand bys. In Uganda, considerable stakeholder engagement was needed due to complex expectations and concerns rendering the exercise highly unpredictable. At the stage of exploration the main objective of Total E&P Uganda was to mitigate this uncertainty and minimize conflicts around land.

Between 2012 and 2014, Total E&P Uganda, managed to obtain access to 19 well pad locations and the right of way for 850 kilometers of seismic lines crossing more that 13,200 properties.

Despite succeeding in fairly compensating for damages and avoid land conflicts, the principle of compensating before impact, which constitutes an essential element of the international best practice, was not easy to comply with due to several external factors or factors inherent to the exploration operations.

In spite of forward planning, stakeholder engagement and the use of a specialized land valuation agency, the lack of reliable land demarcation and land title fueled conflicts among community members and caused delays to the process. In addition, and despite an established process for compensation where all valuation reports are validated by the Ministry of Land, the magnitude of exploration operations overwhelmed the government agency which lacked capacity to validate the reports in due time. This lengthy validation process, increased substantially the compensation period.

For the 3D seismic campaign, even with a well anticipated assessment team scouting before impacts, the contractor was often offsetting the seismic line, and therefore changing the route of the mulching tractor and recording vehicles at the last minute. While the rationale was to minimize impacts, these changes had major consequences on identification of the persons to be compensated. Ownership identification and compensation based on the precise impact had to be redone. Compensation prior to impact was therefore practically impossible unless the risk was taken to compensate people not actually impacted.

This paper will outline the complexity of the context in Uganda, including internal and external factors that worked against a more ‘classic’ approach to compensation. It will highlight Total E&P Uganda's response to this complexity and its reliance on close and confident relationships with impacted people through regular engagement and transparency around the process and the challenges. In addition, a solid team of community liaison officers, land valuers and a strong monitoring process were central to managing this process in such difficult conditions.