Uganda will set up a national oil company to handle commercial interests in its emerging oil sector after the government tabled a long-delayed bill in parliament, an official said Thursday.

"The oil company will really be the one to perform the hands on day-to-day running of the oil sector," Werikhe Kafabusa, chairman of parliament's natural resources committee, told AFP.

The government on Wednesday tabled the Petroleum Exploration, Development and Production bill, the first of three new bills intended to regulate the embryonic oil industry, after lawmakers last year gave ministers an ultimatum to formulate the legislation after years of delay.

The bill aims to set up a national oil company and a separate petroleum authority to "get government out of the direct business" of running the oil sector, Kafabusa said.

The oil company will be majority-owned by the government, and the natural resources committee now has 45 days to consider the bill before reporting back to parliament for it to be voted on, Kafabusa said.

Uganda discovered major deposits of oil along its western border with Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006. Officials currently put the reserves at up to 2.5 billion barrels.

In October, legislators called on government to halt all oil agreements over allegations that several top ministers had taken bribes totaling tens of millions of dollars to influence deals. The ministers denied the allegations.