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DMEA TRANSPORT DMEA

Total accepts Uganda’s request

to speed up work on EACOP

UGANDA THE government of Uganda has informed He also stated that Kampala had taken the
France’s Total that it wants to fast-track the con- action necessary to push the project forward.
The parties are not struction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline “We commend the government for its co-oper-
ready to take an FID (EACOP). ation to ensure the project is a success,” he said.
yet. Ugandan Energy Minister Medard Kalemani Kalemani and Breuillac both acknowledged
met with Arnaud Breuillac, Total’s president for that the parties were not ready to make a final
exploration and production, to discuss the pro- investment decision (FID) on the pipeline yet.
ject last week. At the meeting, Kalemani said that This move will follow the signing of a sharehold-
the French company had accepted his request to ers’ agreement, a host government agreement
accelerate work on EACOP. Work on the project (HGA) and a transportation agreement, and
is due to begin in March 21 and finish 36 months these documents have yet to be finalised and
later, but Kampala hopes to see the pipeline com- brought into alignment with each other, they
pleted ahead of schedule, he stated. said.
“This is because the project has been delayed Breuillac expressed optimism on this front,
already,” he remarked. He was apparently refer- saying: “We are now enabled to fast-track final-
ring to past setbacks in the negotiations that saw isation of legal and commercial agreements to
Total buy its joint venture partner, Tullow Oil pave the way for the final investment decision
(UK/Ireland), out of EACOP and other Ugan- before commencing implementation,” he stated.
dan operations. Total and the Ugandan government will work
Breuillac responded by noting that Total was with Tanzania to build EACOP along a 1,445-km
committed to meeting the Ugandan govern- route from Hoima, a city near Lake Albert, to
ment’s requirements and would strive to uphold Tanga, a port on the shore of the Indian Ocean.
its obligations. “We reiterate our commitments The link will carry crude oil from Total’s Ugan-
to comply with national laws and international dan fields and will have a capacity of 216,000 bar-
standards of practice,” he said. rels per day (bpd). ™

POLICY

Kuwait to stop hiring foreign oil workers

KUWAIT KUWAIT is no longer seeking expatriates for in overall employment as well. It has been sug-
roles in its oil sector, as the government looks to gested that all jobs must be advertised first to
Kuwait wants to reduce the number of foreigners in the Gulf state. local workers, and only offered to foreign ones
“redress the balance” Non-Kuwaiti nationals will not be hired at if this fails.
between foreign and national oil company (NOC) Kuwait Petroleum Low oil prices have led to an economic slow-
local workers. Corp. (KPC), or at any of its subsidiaries, in 2020- down in Kuwait, resulting in rising unemploy-
2021, Oil Minister Khaled Al-Fadhel was quoted ment. However, Fitch Ratings said in May that
as saying by the Kuwait News Agency on June 10. the expatriate workforce was more likely to feel
Al-Fadhel also serves as KPC’s chairman. the impact of this trend than Kuwaiti workers.
The number of third-party contracts with Kuwait’s parliament is even preparing to dis-
expatriates will also be reduced, the minister said. cuss a draft law to ensure that the new policies
Foreigners account for almost 3.4mn of are enforced.
Kuwait’s 4.8mn population, but Kuwaiti Prime According to statistics published by Alshall
Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah said Consulting, India has the highest number of
earlier this month that this number should be expatriate workers in Kuwait, 917,000, while
more than halved. Egypt has the second-highest number, at
“We have a future challenge to redress this 510,000. The draft law proposes setting quotas
imbalance,” he said. for expatriate workers based on their nationality,
The minister also stressed the need for Kuwait with Indian workers to make up no more than
to diversify its economy and create a larger role 15% of the foreign workforce, down from 32%
for the private sector. at present.
Employing foreign workers in the oil industry The law does not apply to citizens of countries
has been a thorny issue in Kuwait for some time. in the Gulf Cooperation Council, which besides
State-run institutions have already begun draw- Kuwait includes Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi
ing up plans to reduce the number of expatriates Arabia and the UAE. ™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 23 11•June•2020