Page 6 - AfrOil Week 04 2023

AfrOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT AfrOil

Uganda issues construction

licence to EACOP consortium

UGANDA UGANDA’S government has issued France’s LADP, a $10bn initiative that aims to monetise
TotalEnergies and its partners in the East Africa Uganda’s as-yet untapped crude oil resources. It
Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) consortium a envisions the construction of a 1,443-km pipe-
construction licence, paving the way for work line from Hoima in western Uganda to Tanga,
to begin on the link that will allow crude from a port on Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast. The
the Lake Albert fields to begin flowing to market EACOP pipeline will carry oil from the Tilenga
in 2024. and Kingfisher oilfields, which TotalEner-
According to local press reports, Uganda’s gies and China National Offshore Oil Corp.
Energy and Mineral Development Minister (CNOOC) are due to bring online starting in
Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu presented the 2025, and it will be heated to compensate for the
licence to the EACOP consortium on January waxy nature of the crude.
25, during a ceremony marking the beginning CNOOC’s Kingfisher field and TotalEner-
of drilling work at the Kingfisher oilfield. She gies’ Tilenga field will eventually see yields top
said the document had been issued in line with 250,000 barrels per day (bpd), with 216,000
Ugandan law and in response to the request the bpd flowing to world markets via EACOP. The
group submitted to the ministry on July 1, 2022. balance will be directed to an as-yet unbuilt
Martin Tiffen, the managing director of the refinery in Uganda for processing into fuels for
EACOP consortium, expressed appreciation consumption in local and regional markets.
for Nankabirwa’s actions. The group is now in a
position to begin building the Ugandan section Drilling begins at Kingfisher
of the pipeline, he stated. As mentioned above, the Chinese company
“This marks another step forward for marked the official start of development drilling
EACOP as it allows the commencement of our at Kingfisher on January 24.
construction activities in Uganda upon comple- The block is expected to produce 40,000 bpd
tion of the ongoing land access process,” he said. at its peak, the Petroleum Authority of Uganda
“We are grateful to the government of Uganda (PAU) said on Twitter, describing the develop-
for the expedited delivery of the application as ment as a “milestone.”
per the commitment in the Host Government Uganda discovered commercial reserves of
Agreement (HGA) and the continuous support petroleum nearly two decades ago, but produc-
for implementation of the EACOP project.” tion has been repeatedly delayed due to a lack of
EACOP is the midstream component of infrastructure, not least a pipeline. ™

Museveni (L) marked the start of development drilling at Kingfisher (Photo: Twitter/@KagutaMuseveni)

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 04 26•January•2023