Chinese and French oil giants finally sealed a $10-billion deal Tuesday to unlock Uganda’s energy resources and build a vast regional oil pipeline, a mega-project that has incensed environmental groups.
The so-called Final Investment Decision should pave the way for the export of millions of barrels of black gold that was first discovered in 2006 in Uganda, one of the world’s most biodiverse regions.
The decision gives the final go-ahead to the long-delayed project and was hailed by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni as an major economic boost for the landlocked East African country where many live in poverty.
Critics charge however that the ambitious scheme threatens the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people and fragile ecosystems in the heart of Africa.
The $10 billion investment deal was announced at a ceremony in Kampala by the heads of France’s TotalEnergies and the local arm of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).
The companies want to extract the huge crude oil reserves under Lake Albert, a 160-kilometre (100-mile) long natural border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The oil would be pumped from Uganda in a 1,443-kilometre (900-mile) heated pipeline -– said to become the longest of its type when completed — through Tanzania to the Indian Ocean port of Tanga.
TotalEnergies chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanne described the controversial pipeline as a “masterpiece”.
“Today is the day we commit to invest $10 billion in the Tilenga and Kingfisher projects and the 1,443-km long pipeline,” he said.
“From today with the FID, the project will fully enter into the construction phase.”
Museveni admitted he had been impatient about the long negotiating process to get the project off the ground, but said the pipeline could become a “nucleus” for East African oil.
AFP