Page 11 - AsianOil Week 48 2020

AsianOil NEWSBASE’S ROUNDUP GLOBAL (NRG) AsianOil

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.

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

Week 48 03•December•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P11