Page 8 - AfrOil Week 09 2021

AfrOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT AfrOil

“We are in the final stages of negotiating a share- Kingfisher and Tilenga oilfields. These fields
holders’ agreement” on the EACOP project, he may begin production in 2025 and will eventu-
added. ally yield at least 260,000 bpd of crude.
Total, for its part, had not commented on the Development of the blocks is expected to cost
matter as of press time. around $6.7bn and will include the construction
According to previous reports, Total intends of two central processing facilities (CPFs) and
to build EACOP along a 1,445-km route from a network of local feeder pipelines. Ugandan
Hoima, a town in western Uganda, to Tanga, a authorities hope to direct around 60,000 bpd of
port on Tanzania’s coast. The pipeline will be oil, or about 23% of anticipated peak produc-
able to handle 216,000 barrels per day (bpd) tion, to a refinery that will turn out petroleum
of oil and will carry a price tag of $3.55bn. It products for the local market. The cost of this
will transport crude from Blocks 1, 1A, 2 and facility, which has yet to be built, is likely to reach
3A in western Uganda, which are home to the $480mn. ™

NGOs seek to discourage banks

from providing credits for EACOP

UGANDA/TANZANIA HUNDREDS of non-governmental organisa- form of loans.“In light of the climate change cri-
tions (NGOs) have signed an open letter asking sis, many countries have made commitments
commercial banks not to provide any funding to clean up their energy systems by promoting
for the construction of the East Africa Crude Oil renewable energy. No responsible bank should
Pipeline (EACOP), according to a report from finance the East African Crude Oil Pipeline
Reuters. (EACOP) project, well knowing that the eco-
In the letter, the NGOs – which included nomic, environmental, climate change and
well-known international groups such as social risks of the project are too immense,” she
Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, as well as declared.
more narrowly focused organisations such as
the Africa Institute for Energy Governance and
the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa –
described EACOP as a project fraught with risk.
They also described the proposed link as an
environmental hazard, raising the prospect of
crude oil spills, damage to water resources in
the Lake Victoria basin and increased carbon
emissions. Additionally, they noted that con-
struction had the potential to disrupt the lands
and livelihoods of the communities along the
pipeline route.
The NGOs said they had addressed the letter
to the commercial banking industry because
France’s Total, which will be leading construc-
tion work on EACOP and also developing the
Ugandan oilfields that will fill the pipeline,
intends to cover about two thirds of the costs of
the $3.5bn project through loans. The French
company and its partner China National Off-
shore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) have identified
Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., the
Ugandan branch of South Africa’s Standard
Bank Group and the Industrial and Commer-
cial Bank of China (ICBC) as possible sources of
financing, they noted. They also named another
23 banks and urged them not to contribute to
the project.
The letter quoted Diana Nabiruma, senior
communications officer at the Africa Institute
for Energy Governance, as saying that EACOP
posed too many risks to warrant support in the EACOP will carry oil from fields in western Uganda (Image: Tullow Oil)

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