Page 8 - AfrOil Week 40 2022

AfrOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT AfrOil

However, it has not yet made any official com- Oil & Gas Summit in Kampala. “Some of these
mitments to the pipeline project, which is people are insufferable,” he declared. “You need
expected to carry a price tag of $4bn. to control yourself not to explode. They are so
To date, the only lender known to have shallow, so egocentric, so wrong, but they think
made an announcement with respect to financ- they know everything.”
ing EACOP is the Islamic Development Bank EACOP is the midstream component of the
(IsDB). Last month, the bank said that its board LADP, a $10bn initiative that aims to monetise
of directors had approved a $100mn credit for Uganda’s as-yet untapped crude oil resources. It
the pipeline scheme, which it described as fund- envisions the construction of a 1,443-km pipe-
ing for a public-private partnership (PPP). line from Hoima in western Uganda to Tanga,
Nevertheless, the Financial Times (UK) a port on Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast. The
quoted a spokesperson for TotalEnergies EACOP pipeline will carry oil from the Tilenga
(France), the leader of the EACOP consortium, and Kingfisher oilfields, which TotalEner-
as saying in mid-September that the group was gies and China National Offshore Oil Corp.
in active negotiations with a group of Afri- (CNOOC) are due to bring on line in 2025, and
can, Asian and Western financial institutions. it will be heated to compensate for the waxy
According to the spokesperson, the consortium nature of the crude.
expects to wrap up financing plans and due dili- Kingfisher and Tilenga will eventually see
gence for the pipeline project later in 2022. yields top 250,000 barrels per day (bpd), with
Environmental activists and non-govern- 216,000 bpd flowing to world markets via
mental organisations (NGOs) have been press- EACOP. The balance will be directed to the
ing international banks not to contribute any refinery in Uganda for processing into fuels for
financing to EACOP on the grounds that the consumption in local and regional markets. ™
initiative will increase harmful carbon emis-
sions. To date, at least 17 major lenders, along
with several international insurance and re-in-
surance providers, have declined to participate
in the project.
Meanwhile, the European Parliament, the
EU’s legislative arm, has called for a one-year
freeze on the EACOP and LADP on the grounds
that the projects pose too much risk to the envi-
ronment and to human rights in Tanzania and
Uganda. This move has drawn no small amount
of criticism in Kampala, where a number of
government officials have accused the EU of
attempting to prevent an African country from
developing its own natural resources.
Museveni has joined that chorus, fulminating
against MEPs and NGOs in a speech delivered at
the opening session of the Uganda International EACOP will have a capacity of 216,000 bpd (Image: Petroleum Authority of Uganda)

INVESTMENT
NewMed and Capricorn announce merger

REGIONAL NEWMED Energy announced last week that to leverage its strong position in the Eastern
it intended to merge with UK-based Capricorn Mediterranean.
Energy in a shares-plus-cash deal that com- NewMed’s assets comprise equal 45.33%
bines a wealth of gas-rich assets around the stakes in Israel’s giant Leviathan gas field and
Mediterranean. the East Med Gas (EMG) pipeline stakes, as well
The agreement will see shareholders in as 30% in Cyprus’ 3.5 trillion cubic foot (10bn
Capricorn – formerly Cairn Energy – receive a cubic metre) Aphrodite gas field and the onshore
special dividend of $620mn and the new entity Israeli New Ofek and New Yahel licences. It will
will be listed under NewMed – formerly Delek also receive royalties from the Karish and Tanin
Drilling – whose shareholders will hold an fields, which were sold to Energean, a fellow
89.7% stake in the new “MENA gas and energy London-listed company, in 2016.
champion.” The Leviathan partners agreed in January to
Delek rebranded as NewMed and listed in spend around $235mn to construct the EMG
London in February while announcing plans pipeline allowing for direct gas exports from the
to enter the Moroccan upstream as it continues assets to Egypt.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 40 06•October•2022