Page 6 - DMEA Week 10 2021

DMEA COMMENTARY DMEA

Under pressure in Uganda

Total CEO says company is aware of risks posed by its work at the Tilenga

oilfield and its plans to build the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP)

AFRICA FINANCIAL institutions around the world are to ensure that these projects are carried out in
under pressure from climate activists to revise or an exemplary manner and create value for the
cancel their plans for helping to cover the cost of people in both countries.”
WHAT: oil- and gas-related projects. To this end, Total is making information
Total and Standard Bank This campaign recently brought the East available to the public about the studies it has
have responded to calls Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) into the conducted in Uganda, he noted.
for shutting off financing spotlight, with more than 260 non-governmen- “In view of the questions raised by stakehold-
for Ugandan projects. tal organisations (NGOs) publishing an open let- ers, the commitment of Total is to answer to all
ter that urged commercial banks not to provide questions and to ensure complete transparency
WHY: any funding for the construction of the link. The on the studies conducted by Total and independ-
A group of more than 260 signatories included well-known international ent third parties and the actions taken as a result,”
NGOs recently argued groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the he said.
that the pipeline posed Earth, as well as more narrowly focused organ- Among the documents made public are the
too many social and isations such as the Africa Institute for Energy independent reviews and environmental/social
environmental risks. Governance and the Alliance for Food Sover- assessment reports conducted for operations in
eignty in Africa. the Nwoya and Buliisa districts related to the
WHAT NEXT: The letter appears to have drawn a response development of the Tilenga oilfield, he added.
Standard Bank is waiting from France’s Total, which is slated to lead the Total affirmed these assertions in its state-
for the outcome of a new effort to construct the pipeline. (The French ment, saying: “Several independent reviews have
study before it decides company will also operate one of the two fields been conducted by third-party organisations
whether to proceed. that will provide throughput for the conduit; it is to ensure that the projects are implemented in
also a minority shareholder in the other fields.) compliance with social and environmental best
practices. These reviews also allow assessment
Total CEO responds of the effectiveness of the actions undertaken to
Earlier this week, Patrick Pouyanné, the CEO identify areas of improvement and have resulted
of France’s Total, has asserted that his company in related action plans.”
aims to minimise the environmental impact of The French major also said it was cognizant
the upstream and midstream projects it is lead- of the sensitivity of the matter for communities
ing in Uganda. living near work sites. “These [Ugandan] pro-
In a company statement, Pouyanné was jects are undertaken in a sensitive environmental
quoted as saying Total was aware that its plans for context and require the implementation of land
developing of Tilenga, an oilfield within Blocks 1 acquisition programmes with a specific attention
and 2 in western Uganda, and building EACOP to respecting the rights of the communities con-
posed certain risks. “We acknowledge that [the] cerned,” he said.
Tilenga and EACOP projects represent signifi-
cant social and environmental stakes, which we Statements follow NGO letter
are taking into consideration responsibly,” he Pouyanné spoke shortly after the NGOs pub-
said. “We are mobilising substantial resources lished their open letter.

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