Page 14 - DMEA Week 40 2021

DMEA PIPELINES DMEA

EACOP consortium reportedly close

to signing pipe supply agreements

AFRICA THE consortium set up to build and operate forward with land acquisition processes along
the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) is the proposed route of the pipeline. Officials in
reportedly close to finalising arrangements with Kampala are focusing on taking control of the
future suppliers of steel pipe. sites needed for high-priority facilities such as
According to Martin Tiffen, the general man- construction yards, piping yards, a thermal insu-
ager of the consortium, TotalEnergies (France) lation plant and the main work camp, he noted.
and the other investors in EACOP have not The EACOP pipeline will be built by a con-
yet signed the main supply agreements for the sortium in which TotalEnergies is serving as the
pipeline. operator with a 37.5% stake.
The group will take this step once the nec- The remaining equity has been split between
essary legal and commercial framework for China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC),
the project has been established, he said during with 37.5%; Uganda National Oil Co. (UNOC),
the Uganda International Oil and Gas Summit with 15%, and Tanzania Petroleum Develop-
(UIOGS), a two-day virtual event held last week. ment Corp. (TPDC), with 5%. Both Total and
Tiffen did not say exactly when the EACOP CNOOC are involved in developing the Ugan-
consortium might be able to sign these supply dan oilfields that will provide throughput for the
deals. He did report, however, that the group had pipeline.
“identified four key contractors who are working EACOP is slated to follow a 1,445-km route
under conditional award.” from Hoima, a town in western Uganda, to
A number of steel mills and pipe suppliers Tanga, a port on Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast.
around the world have already indicated that It will handle 216,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil
they are ready to meet EACOP’s specifications from Blocks 1, 1A, 2 and 3A in western Uganda,
and delivery deadlines, he stated, without nam- which are home to the Kingfisher and Tilenga
ing any potential partners. fields. These two sites are due to begin produc-
In the meantime, the EACOP head said, tion in 2025 and will eventually yield at least
Uganda’s government is working to move 260,000 bpd of crude.™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 40 07•October•2021