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She urged Shell, Equinor and the other stake- have been working to restart talks on Tanzania
holders to empower local communities, describ- LNG, and Makamba confirmed last November
ing full citizen participation in the extraction of that negotiations were once again underway
oil and gas a top government priority. with Equinor and Shell. Tanzania Petroleum
Tanzania’s government began discussing the Development Corp. (TPDC), the national oil
Tanzania LNG scheme with Shell and Equinor company (NOC), has said it hopes to see work
more than seven years ago. However, negoti- on the LNG plant begin in 2023.
ations proceeded very slowly for much of this According to previous reports, the Tanzania
time, partly because of commercial disputes LNG facility will handle production from three
between the companies and the government deepwater offshore sites containing about 35
and partly because Suluhu’s predecessor, John trillion cubic feet (991bn cubic metres) of gas –
Magufuli, made the East Africa Crude Oil Pipe- Block 2, assigned to Equinor, and Blocks 1 and
line (EACOP) project a higher priority. 4, assigned to Shell. It will have two trains with
However, Suluhu and her administration a capacity of 5mn tonnes per year (tpy) each. ™

TotalEnergies launches biodiversity

programme linked to Ugandan oil project

UGANDA TOTALENERGIES EP Uganda, a subsidiary of (NEMA) and the Petroleum Authority of
the French major TotalEnergies, has launched a Uganda (PAU). He did not say how much the
biodiversity programme that aims to conserve company had budgeted for the biodiversity ini-
sensitive ecosystems in and around Murchison tiative but stressed that TotalEnergies was ready
Falls, a conservation area that environmental to spend what was necessary to achieve its goal.
activists have described as extremely vulnerable NEMA executive director Dr. Akankwasa
to oil development operations. Barirega described the Tilenga programme as a
Philippe Groueix, the general manager of pilot project for biodiversity in connection with
TotalEnergies EP Uganda, unveiled the initi- oil development. “We believe this will be a lit-
ative – known as the Tilenga biodiversity pro- mus test in the implementation of the NEMA
gramme, after the company’s Tilenga oilfields on Act 2019. We look forward to having a verifiable
the shores of Lake Albert – last week. According and measurable programme that will include
to a report from NilePost, Groueix stressed his compensation for the land lost or taken away
company’s commitment to preserving biodiver- from conservation,” he said. “As regulators, we
sity and minimising the environmental impact shall ensure we monitor this programme effec-
of its work. tively to have measurable outcomes to demon-
“TotalEnergies believe that the biodiversity strate the net gain.”
sector is important for Uganda for the future,” he Meanwhile, Dr. Joseph Kobusheshe, PAU’s
said. “There is legitimate fear that our activities director for environment, health, safety and
in the oil sector will have an impact on biodiver- security, said the biodiversity programme gave
sity, and we are here to transform that fear and the Ugandan government a means of ensuring
demonstrate it is an opportunity we can use to that the country’s citizens actually drew benefit
preserve nature. We will positively contribute by from the development of crude oil resources.
making sure nature will be in a better situation “With respect to oil and gas ... the Petroleum
compared to what it was before the oil project.” Authority of Uganda want to ensure the peo-
He continued: “We are mindful of the sen- ple are left in a better position than when oil
sitive context within which we are undertaking started,” he was quoted as saying by Nile Post.
our activities. We have thus made a commit- Tilenga is the main upstream component of
ment to ensure that we implement action plans the Lake Albert Development Project (LADP), a
designed to produce net positive impact on $10bn initiative that aims to monetise Uganda’s
biodiversity. The biodiversity programme will crude oil resources.
ensure a sustainable approach in working with TotalEnergies aims to launch production at
community towards protecting and conserv- the Tilenga oilfields in 2025 and will eventually
ing the ecologically rich area in and around the see yields top 200,000 barrels per day (bpd). It
Murchison Falls Conservation Area.” will export most of what it produces via the mid-
Groueix went on to say that TotalEnergies stream component of LADP – namely, the East
would be working with existing local agen- Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), a 1,443-
cies to implement the programme, including km conduit running from Hoima in western
the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), the Uganda to Tanga, a port on Tanzania’s Indian
National Environment Management Authority Ocean coast. ™

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