The making of an oil frontier: Territorialisation dynamics in Uganda's emerging oil industry

• Published in: The extractive industries and society 2022-12, Vol.12, p.101188, Article 101188
• Main Authors: Smith, Laura, Van Alstine, James, Tallontire, Anne
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: CSR; Extractive industries; Post frontier; Territorialisation; Uganda oil industry
• ISSN: 2214-790X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.exis.2022.101188

•We unpack the dynamics of the oil exploration period in Uganda through the lens of the post frontier.•The drivers and agents of competing territorialisation processes in Uganda change over time as the industry develops.•The post frontier in Uganda is driven by the changing role and priorities of oil MNCs and the need to mitigate risk.•The role of the state, human rights discourses and international linkages are crucial in shaping territorialisation processes.•There is potential for a more locally responsive negotiated post frontier to emerge from social contestation as the industry moves towards ‘first oil’. Extractive industries are operating in an increasingly complex global context with concerns about human rights, environmental protection, and transparency high on the agenda. To establish a new oil project, oil companies must navigate a landscape of competing territorialisation processes, where the state and extractive companies put in place measures to recognise community rights, conduct ESIAs and provide local benefits. Indigenous groups, social movements and NGOs may challenge these efforts by demanding greater rights protection and benefits, or by resisting extractive industry projects. Drawing on the post frontier concept, this article explores territorialising and counter territorialising dynamics in Uganda during the pre-oil stages of the industry. We find that the drivers and agents of competing territorialisation processes change over time as the industry develops. This is due to the changing role and priorities of oil multinational companies (MNCs) over time, constraints on Ugandan civil society, and tension between the interests of the state to push through oil infrastructure projects and the pressure on oil MNCs to uphold international standards of human rights. We find that the Ugandan post frontier is emerging through a negotiated process, however, not one that is locally responsive and based on consensus but driven more by the changing priorities of oil MNCs and the need to mitigate risk.