Development
Uganda, Tanzania, Oil Firms Sign Accords to Build $3.5-Billion Pipeline By Elias Biryabaremea
UGANDA, TANZANIA AND OIL FIRMS Total Presidents Hassan and Museveni meet to sign pipeline accord (citizentv.co.ke) and CNOOC CNU-T on Sunday, April 10th signed agreements that will kick-start the construction of a $3.5 billion crude pipeline to help ship crude from Total has said EACOP could potentially be the fields in western Uganda to international markets. longest electrically heated crude oil pipeline in the France’s Total and China’s CNOOC own world. Uganda’s oilfields after Britain’s Tullow exited the “It’s a very large project, one of the largest we country last year. should develop on this continent,” Total’s CEO, The signatories have now agreed to “to start Patrick Pouyanné said, adding they expected oil investment in the construction of infrastructure production to commence in early 2025. that will produce and transport the crude oil,” To get the Ugandan crude flowing, Pouyanné said Robert Kasande, permanent secretary at said investments of more than $10 billion were Uganda’s ministry of energy. required. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and The pipeline has met resistance from Tanzania’s new leader Samia Suluhu Hassan, environmentalists who argue it will threaten on her first official visit, attended the signing of the ecologically sensitive areas along its route, three accords that included: including wildlife reserves and water catchment » a host government agreement for the pipeline, areas for Lake Victoria. » a tariff and transportation agreement and About 263 non-governmental organizations » a shareholding agreement. (NGOs) from around the world have urged the Uganda discovered crude reserves in the chief executives of 25 banks not to extend loans Albertine rift basin in the west of the country near to fund the pipeline. the border with the Democratic Republic of The project, they say, would pose immense Congo in 2006. Government geologists estimated threats to local communities, water supplies, and total reserves at 6 billion barrels. biodiversity in Uganda, Tanzania, Democratic However, the landlocked East African nation Republic of Congo and Kenya. needs a pipeline to transport the crude to “This pipeline project can be a core of bigger international markets. deployments,” said Museveni, adding investors The planned East African Crude Oil Pipeline could use the EACOP land corridor to put up (EACOP), with a length of 1,445 kilometres (898 another pipeline to ship gas from Tanzania and miles), will run from the oilfields to Tanzania’s Mozambique to consumers in Uganda, Rwanda, Indian Ocean seaport of Tanga. Congo and other countries in the region. Uganda’s crude is highly viscous, which means www.theglobeandmail.com/business/internationalit needs to be heated to be kept liquid enough to business/article-uganda-tanzania-oil-firms-signflow. accords-to-build-35-billion-pipeline 23
May-June 2021
DAWN
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