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EACOP’s proposed route is almost 1,450 km long (Image: Petroleum Authority of Uganda)
NGOs urge bank not to fund Uganda-Tanzania oil pipeline
UGANDA/TANZANIA
MORE than 100 non-governmental organisa- tions (NGOs) have banded together to urge the African Development Bank (AfDB) to refuse loans to Uganda and Tanzania for the construc- tion of a new oil export pipeline.
According to the East African, the NGOs recently outlined their position in a letter to AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina. In the letter, they criticised the proposed East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and described it as “exceptionally high-risk.” They argued that the project would cause irreparable harm to areas through which the pipeline is meant to pass.
The letter stressed that EACOP carried sig- nificant risks for the environment and the cli- mate, not least because it aimed to facilitate the use of fossil fuels. It also claimed that emissions from the project had the potential to harm the farming communities in areas adjacent to the pipeline in both Uganda and Tanzania. Addi- tionally, it highlighted the potential for damage to biodiversity and natural habitats in the same regions.
Moreover, the NGOs expressed concern about the possibility of social and economic risks for the local population. Building EACOP will require the governments of Uganda and Tanzania to engage in large-scale land acquisi- tion that could lead to forced resettlement and loss of livelihood for residents of areas along the proposed pipeline route, they said.
“We do not consider that these concerns can be adequately mitigated,” they stated in the
letter. “As such, we urge the bank not to proceed with financing this project but to seek oppor- tunities instead to finance genuine renewable infrastructure to help meet the region’s energy needs in a clean and rights-compatible manner in the decades to come.”
The NGOs asked Adesina to respond to the letter by April 10. As of press time, though, the bank president had not commented publicly on the matter.
Some of the organisations that endorsed the letter have also sought to discourage South Africa’s Standard Bank and Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC) from helping to finance EACOP. Last year, 21 African NGOs and 10 international groups asked the banks to abandon their plan to serve as lead arrangers for a $2.5bn credit deal for the project.
Uganda and Tanzania have said that EACOP will eventually follow a 1,445-km route from Hoima, a city near the Lake Albert oilfields, to Tanga, a port on the coast of the Indian Ocean. The link would allow Uganda to export future crude production at the rate of 216,000 barrels per day (bpd).
Work on the project is currently stalled, owing to the collapse of talks between Tullow Oil (UK/Ireland) and two other companies on the sale of a stake in the Lake Albert fields. Tullow had hoped to farm out part of its stake in the upstream assets to China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and Total (France), but the deal fell apart as a result of tax disputes.
Week 15 15•April•2020 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P9
