Home Africa Live Uganda approves construction license for $3.5 billion crude oil pipeline

Uganda approves construction license for $3.5 billion crude oil pipeline

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January 19, 2023

Uganda has approved an application by a company controlled by TotalEnergies to construct a 3.5 billion U.S. dollar oil pipeline that will transport the country’s crude to international markets, Godfrey Kabbyanga, the state minister for information, said in a statement on Thursday.

According to a Reuters report, the approval is a crucial step to developing the East African country’s oilfields. Commercial petroleum production has been delayed in the fields for nearly two decades because of a lack of infrastructure and disagreements between the government and oil companies.

TotalEnergies is the largest shareholder in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Company Ltd (EACOP) with a 62 percent stake. Other investors include the state-run Uganda National Oil Company and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation, which have 15 percent each.

The planned pipeline will run from landlocked Uganda’s oilfields in the country’s west to a port on Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast, a distance of 1,445 kilometers.