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Mozambique launches

new fuel storage terminal

MOZAMBIQUE MOZAMBIQUE has opened a new fuel stor- cooking, reducing the use of firewood and
age terminal in the southern city of Matola – a charcoal, the president added. This will help cut
project the government hopes will expand the deforestation and improve the health of people,
transit of imported fuel to neighbouring coun- mostly women, who cook household meals, he
tries inland. said.
The facility was inaugurated in a ceremony “We are in the presence of infrastructure
by Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on whose contribution to the economy goes far
December 3. It was built by Portugal’s Galp and beyond the direct activities that arise from its
Kuwait-based Independent Petroleum Group business,” Nyusi said. “This infrastructure will
(IPG), at a cost of $100mn. help the energy sector to respond to its chal-
Nyusi said the terminal would make lenges and to cope with the marked increase in
Mozambique more competitive as a transit national and regional demand.”
route for fuels supplies heading to countries The terminal can store up to 60,000 cubic
inland. Mozambique lacks any refining capac- metres of liquid fuels. According to its website,
ity, importing around 1.7mn cubic metres per Galp intends to commission a second storage
year of petroleum products, the president said. facility in the central city of Beira next year, with
Neighbouring Zambia and Zimbabwe also a 75,000-cubic metre capacity. It operates two
receive fuel via Mozambican ports. other facilities in the southern African country
The new terminal will also expand Mozam- already. The company also has an extensive fuel
bican households’ access to LPG as a fuel in distribution network. ™

Uganda approves ESIA for EACOP

UGANDA UGANDA’S National Environmental Manage- construction phase,” he said.
ment Authority (NEMA) confirmed last week For his part, Dozith Abeinomugisha, the
that it had approved the environmental and director of petroleum refining, conversion,
social impact assessment (ESIA) conducted for transmission and storage at the Petroleum
the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). Authority of Uganda (PAU), said he hoped
According to press reports from Kampala, the approval of the ESIA would help accelerate
NEMA issued a certificate of approval for the the development of oilfields near Lake Albert.
ESIA to Total East Africa Midstream, a subsidi- “EACOP will provide a wide range of social
ary of Total (France), which is leading the effort [and] economic benefits to the country and the
to build the pipeline. The certificate covers the region, including serving as a regional infra-
Ugandan section of EACOP, which is due to structure to deliver crude oil ... [from] the region
cross both Ugandan and Tanzanian territory. to the market,” he said.
(The government of Tanzania approved the
ESIA for the other section of the link in Novem-
ber 2019.)
Martin Tiffen, the general manager of the
EACOP project, expressed satisfaction with
NEMA’s move, which will pave the way for
starting construction work on the pipe. “This is
a significant milestone for the project and is the
result of several years of collaborative work with
many specialists and stakeholders to reach this
point,” he was quoted as saying by the Ugandan
press.
Tiffen also emphasised that the pipeline
would benefit the economies of both countries.
EACOP “will yield substantial foreign direct
investment in Uganda and Tanzania during the EACOP will terminate in the Tanzanian port of Tanga (Image: PAU)

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