New Dawn As Uganda, Tanzania Seal Oil Pipeline Deal

The governments of Tanzania, Uganda and international oil firms, French Total E&P, and China’s Cnooc have signed off four key agreements for commercialisation of the proposed East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), bringing to end years of protracted negotiations and setting on course Uganda’s oil project for the next phases of development and production by earliest 2025. Total SA is the parent company of Total E&P licensed to operate in Uganda, alongside Cnooc.

The two ventured into Uganda after each acquiring 66.66% stake from Anglo-Irish Tullow Oil PLC, which recently sold off its entire stake, and is currently processing winding up its operations. The planned U.S.$3,5 billion crude export pipeline is to run a length of 1,445 kilometers, beginning in Hoima in western Uganda and ending at Tanga in Tanzania. Uganda discovered crude reserves in the Albertine rift basin in the west of the country near the border with DR Congo in 2006. The signing of the agreements was initially scheduled for March 22, 2021 but was deferred to allow mourning of the late Tanzanian president John Pombe Magufuli.

Source: AllAfrica.com