The Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU) has commenced the search for its second Executive Director, formally opening the next chapter in the leadership of Uganda’s oil and gas regulator.
The recruitment signals a carefully sequenced succession plan ahead of the expected end of Ernest N. T. Rubondo’s second and final term on August 31, 2026.
The move is more than administrative. It comes at a moment when Uganda’s petroleum sector is on the cusp of transformation from years of exploration, negotiation and construction into full-scale production.
For PAU, the transition marks the end of an era shaped almost entirely by one man.
Mr Rubondo is not only the Executive Director of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda, but also its Secretary to the Board, and the founding figure around whom the institution was built.
For the last decade, he has stood at the centre of Uganda’s petroleum regulatory architecture, quietly powerful, deeply technical, and relentlessly methodical.
“This year, the Petroleum Authority of Uganda marks ten years of regulating Uganda’s oil and gas sector, which is a significant milestone,” Rubondo said during a press conference to commemorate PAU’s first decade.
“The Authority has played a critical role in ensuring that the country’s oil and gas resources are developed sustainably, transparently, and in a manner that benefits all Ugandans ,” he added.
A geologist before a regulator
Long before PAU existed, Rubondo was already part of Uganda’s petroleum story.
He trained as a petroleum geologist, earning a Master of Science in Petroleum Reservoir Geology from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London in 1990.
He worked briefly with Scott Pickford in the United Kingdom before returning home, at a time when Uganda’s oil prospects were still uncertain and largely unproven.
While in Uganda, Rubondo joined field teams conducting geological and geophysical data acquisition. It was the real work that laid the earliest technical foundations for the country’s petroleum discoveries. That hands-on exposure to subsurface data would later shape his approach to regulation: evidence-driven, conservative, and intolerant of shortcuts.
His public service career spans close to half a century at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, where he rose through the ranks at a time when Uganda’s oil sector was still being imagined into existence.
Between 2008 and 2014, he served as Commissioner for the Petroleum Exploration and Production Department (PEPD), the unit that preceded PAU.
He later became Director for Petroleum between 2015 and 2016, overseeing the transition from ministerial oversight to an independent regulatory authority.
That institutional memory would prove decisive.
Rubondo was not merely an administrator of Uganda’s petroleum sector; he was one of its architects.
He chaired the working group that coordinated the formulation of Uganda’s National Oil and Gas Policy, approved in 2008, a document that set out the principles of state participation, national benefit, environmental protection, and transparency.
He was also a key participant in drafting the petroleum laws passed in 2013, which created the legal framework under which PAU now operates.
That philosophy shaped PAU when it became operational in 2016, with Rubondo appointed as its first Executive Director.
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Under Rubondo’s leadership, PAU grew from a skeletal institution into a fully fledged regulator.
Staff numbers expanded from one employee in 2016 to 220, with expertise across geology, engineering, economics, health and safety, environment, law, and data science.
PAU has since implemented three strategic plans, each aligned with Uganda’s National Development Plans, guiding the Authority through exploration, project sanctioning, construction, and now the threshold of production.
Rubondo’s decade in office coincides with the most consequential phase of Uganda’s oil journey.
In 2022, Uganda reached Final Investment Decision (FID) for its flagship petroleum projects including; Tilenga, Kingfisher, and the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) hence unlocking investments of more than $15 billion.
PAU, under Rubondo, assumed the role of regulator for projects that are vast in scale, capital, and complexity.
“These are mega projects,” Rubondo said. “The Authority leads their monitoring and regulation, and their implementation is intense” .
PAU reviewed and approved key technical submissions, including Front End Engineering Designs, drilling programmes, reservoir reports, and environmental and social impact studies, ensuring compliance before construction began.
As of late 2025, drilling and construction were well advanced, with first oil expected in the second half of 2026.
During this period, Uganda’s petroleum resource base also grew. Oil in place increased from 6.5 billion to 6.65 billion barrels, while recoverable resources rose from 1.4 billion to 1.65 billion barrels, reflecting improved data quality and technical understanding of the Albertine Graben
Beyond regulation, Rubondo has been a central figure in promoting Uganda’s petroleum potential globally.
He is a member of the government team that markets the country’s oil and gas prospects to international investors, and a key negotiator of production-sharing agreements with oil companies operating in the Albertine Graben.
He has consistently framed PAU’s mandate as balancing investor confidence with national interest.
“Our mission has been to create lasting value for society while contributing to Uganda being a sound investment destination,” he said.
That balance has also defined PAU’s work on national content, environmental protection, cost recovery audits, and data governance, areas that will only grow in importance as Uganda enters production.
When Rubondo steps down in August 2026, he will leave behind more than a title.
He will leave an institution he helped design, staff he helped train, laws he helped write, and a petroleum sector on the brink of delivering first oil.
“The milestones achieved by the PAU in the last ten years are testament to the dedication, professionalism, and unwavering commitment of the staff, as well as the support of our partners and stakeholders,” Rubondo said in closing the anniversary address
In a sector often defined by noise and controversy, Rubondo’s legacy is written into Uganda’s petroleum laws, its regulatory institutions, and the systems now poised to oversee one of the country’s most significant economic transformations.
