Page 6 - AfrOil Week 39 2021

AfrOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT AfrOil

Tanzania, Uganda discuss local

content requirements for EACOP

TANZANIA/UGANDA GOVERNMENT officials and businessmen In the meantime, he remarked, ATOGS is
from Tanzania and Uganda gathered in Dar ready to provide as much assistance as it can to
Es Salaam last week to discuss local content Ugandan organisations. “To ensure that Ugan-
requirements from the East Africa Crude Oil dan companies face no red tape here, ATOGS
Pipeline (EACOP), which is slated to be built will be a point of contact and will have [a] one-
along a 1,445-km route from Hoima to the stop desk to give them much-needed support,”
Indian Ocean port of Tanga. he said.
Richard Kabonero, Uganda’s ambassador to A number of Tanzanian and Ugandan com-
Tanzania, said after the EACOP Local Content panies are planning to form joint ventures to bid
Forum that the two countries had agreed to for EACOP contracts, he added.
reserve a total of 30 types of contracts for local Abdulrahim also noted that ATOGS had
companies. This “ring-fence” arrangement will signed an agreement with an affiliated of Nige-
require the EACOP consortium to source 17 ria’s Stanbic IBTC Bank on funding for local
types of products exclusively from Tanzanian content providers interested in contributing to
businesses and another 13 types exclusively the pipeline project. Some of the local compa-
from Ugandan businesses, he said. nies that are most interested in bidding for con-
Together, he said, Tanzanian and Ugandan tracts are facing obstacles because they do not
companies are on track to provide at least 30% have easy access to financing, he explained.
of the building materials and other supplies that According to previous reports, the EACOP
will be used for the pipeline project. A number link will run from oilfields near Hoima, a town
of Tanzanian firms have already registered in in western Uganda, to the Tanzanian port of
Uganda in anticipation of bidding for EACOP Tanga. It will handle 216,000 barrels per day
contracts and vice versa, he added. (bpd) of oil from Blocks 1, 1A, 2 and 3A in west-
Kabonero did not name any of the compa- ern Uganda, which encompass the Kingfisher
nies involved, but he was speaking shortly after and Tilenga fields. These fields are due to begin
Abdu Abdulsamad Abdulrahim, the chairman production in 2025 and will eventually yield at
of the Association of Tanzania Oil and Gas Ser- least 260,000 bpd of crude.
vice Providers (ATOGS), reported that more The pipeline will be built by a consortium in
than 20 Ugandan businesses had registered in which TotalEnergies (France) is serving as the
Tanzania for the project. operator, with a 37.5% stake. The remaining
Abdulrahim called on Tanzania’s govern- equity will be divided between China National
ment to welcome these Ugandan firms, in line Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), with 37.5%;
with its commitments under the host govern- Uganda National Oil Co. (UNOC), with 15%,
ment agreement (HGA) signed earlier this year and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corp.
for the EACOP initiative. Ugandan authorities (TPDC), with 5%. Both Total and CNOOC
have already taken concrete steps to encourage are involved in developing the oilfields that will
Tanzanian firms by addressing questions about provide throughput for the pipeline; the former
work and border permits and by eliminating red company serves as operator of Tilenga, while the
tape, he said. latter is leading work at Kingfisher. ™

Attendees at EACOP Local Content Forum in Dar Es Salaam (Photo: ATOGS)

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