Page 6 - AfrOil Week 05 2023

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

However, he added, “Zambia’s bargaining posi- fuel specifications.
tion is not the strongest [as the country is] rely- For Zambia, export parity pricing in addition
ing on its neighbours for imports.” to its existing CPM is likely to necessitate contin-
He continued: “With Middle Eastern state- ued subsidies.
owned oil firms shipping large product volumes McDonald concluded: “The Lobito option
to Dar es Salaam, Lusaka’s fuel fate depends on holds great appeal for both parties – investment
deals done by the government of Tanzania.” and guaranteed offtake for Sonangol and a new
Meanwhile, the economics of intra-conti- product stream for Zambia. However, given the
nental sales provide a challenge to major refin- years the industry has been waiting for the refin-
ery investments. This applies particularly to ery to be built, and the time required to complete
those, like the Dangote plant, that are being built both it and a 1,400-km pipeline, even the 2025
to focus on export markets with higher quality timeline appears ambitious.” ™

PIPELINES & TRANSPORT
EACOP consortium dismisses reports

of large-scale population displacement

UGANDA REPRESENTATIVES of EACOP Ltd, the con- grievances or do re-evaluation and field visits
sortium formed to build the East Africa Crude which have taken longer, and in some areas,
Oil Pipeline (EACOP), have spoken out against project-affected persons have issues like death of
reports alleging that the midstream project has the head of the family and the dependents need
led to the large-scale displacement of rural pop- letters of administration. All these have delayed
ulations through land appropriation. us but will soon be done away with.”
According to Stella Amony, the lead commu- EACOP is the midstream component of the
nications officer for EACOP Ltd, recent social Lake Albert Development Project (LADP), a
media posts claiming that more than 7,000 $10bn initiative that aims to monetise Uganda’s
people have been displaced from their homes crude oil resources. It calls for the construction
in Uganda, in the Kiziranfumbi sub-county of a 1,443-km pipeline from Hoima in western
of the Kikuube district, are inaccurate and Uganda to Tanga, a port on Tanzania’s Indian
exaggerated. Ocean coast. The pipeline will carry oil from the
“You must be concocting these figures in Tilenga and Kingfisher oilfields, which France’s
your head,” she said. “For your information, TotalEnergies and China National Offshore Oil
EACOP does not go through Kiziranfumbi. Corp. (CNOOC) will bring online in 2025, and
Also, EACOP physically displaces only 203 it will be heated to compensate for the waxy
project-affected persons ... What sources are nature of the crude.
these when Kyangwali is not even crossed by CNOOC’s Kingfisher field and TotalEner-
EACOP?” gies’ Tilenga field will eventually see yields top
Amony also stressed that EACOP Ltd was 250,000 barrels per day (bpd), with 216,000 bpd
upholding its legal obligation to pay all land- flowing to world markets via EACOP. The bal-
holders whose property was being appropriated ance will be directed to a 60,000-bpd refinery in
for pipeline construction. “The process of com- Uganda, which will turn out fuels for consump-
pensating these people is ongoing,” she stated. tion in local and regional markets. ™
She was speaking shortly after Martin Tiffen,
EACOP Ltd’s managing director, told report-
ers that the consortium had already paid com-
pensation to 75% of the people who had been
designated as affected by the project. The group
has experienced some delays as a result of the
lockdowns and public health measures imposed
because of an Ebola outbreak, especially in the
Mubende district, he explained.
“It is a linear process, and we have to physi-
cally access all the 170 villages along the pipeline
but we have teams out in the field for the past
eight months and will continue for the next four
to five months to complete the exercise,” Tiffen
said.
“In some places we either had to resolve EACOP begins near Lake Albert (Image: TotalEnergies)

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 05 02•February•2023