Page 12 - MEOG Week 48

MEOG NEWSBASE’S ROUNDUP GLOBAL (NRG) MEOG

NRG: While OPEC meets, life goes on

As the eyes of the world have turned to an interesting turn of

events in Vienna, momentum is building behind projects elsewhere.

GLOBAL WELCOME to the latest edition of NewsBase’s initiatives face legal and political challenges.
Roundup Global (NRG), in which our team of On the midstream side, four non-governmen-
international editors provide you with a snap- tal organisations (NGOs) from Uganda, Kenya and
shot of some of the key issues affecting their Tanzania aim to block the construction of the East
regional beats. Get the NRG Oil & Gas Editor’s Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). The groups
Picks to your inbox every week for free. Just sign have filed suit in the East African Court of Justice,
up here. arguing that work on the project should not go
The oil market’s eyes are naturally on this week’s forward because the governments of Uganda and
OPEC+ talks, which are inevitably having an Tanzania have not conducted the required environ-
impact on prices, but meanwhile, developments mental and social impact assessment (ESIA).
continue across all of our regions. LNG makes its News of the legal challenge emerged shortly
mark in several ways: both Thailand and Ghana after the African Development Bank (AfDB)
have their eyes on major initiatives which have unveiled plans to provide financial support for
the benefit of supporting “a greener, more efficient small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that
energy economy” and will help them meet increas- contribute to the EACOP project. In a statement,
ingly important international standards. the bank said it intended to pay $1mn in grant
Supply aspects are also significant, as are money split equally between Uganda and Tanzania.
resource-sharing deals. International climate goals The Ugandan government has pledged to make
are becoming a familiar factor in energy decisions another $500,000 available to local SMEs, and the
and an example of this is seen in Spain’s Repsol Tanzanian authorities are looking at a similar plan,
investment plans. Our editors are watching major according to the statement.
surveys that are progressing in Guyana and the Meanwhile, a candidate in Uganda’s next pres-
UAE and in this week’s NRG they highlight the East idential election, scheduled for January 2021, has
African Crude Oil Pipeline, which is due to create criticised the current administration’s handling
thousands of jobs and help to unlock East Africa’s of oil investments and revenues. Major-General
potential. Mugisha Muntu, who is representing the Alliance
for National Transformation (ANT), declared:
AfrOil: Challenges in East Africa “The good thing is [that] if you trust and elect me
In East Africa, upstream and midstream and ANT into power, revenues from [the] oil and

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 48 02•December•2020