The East African Crude Oil Pipeline has successfully overcome sustained international opposition to reach 70 percent completion, with project leaders confident the ambitious 1,443-kilometer project will be operational by July next year. TPDC Board Chairman Ambassador Ombeni Sefue announced during an inspection tour of the Chongoleani Terminal in Tanga City that the project has secured full financing despite a coordinated campaign by environmental activists to discourage international financial institutions from supporting it. The pipeline has completed 65.6 percent of welding work, equivalent to 946 kilometers of the total route from Kabaale, Uganda to Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast.
The project consortium, led by TotalEnergies with 62 percent stake, alongside China National Offshore Oil Corporation (8 percent), Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (15 percent), and Uganda National Oil Company (15 percent), has maintained steady progress amid global financing pressure. The pipeline, designed to transport crude oil from Uganda’s oil fields to the export terminal at Tanga, represents one of Africa’s most significant energy infrastructure investments.
Tanzania has already collected 70 billion shillings in revenue from various taxes and fees, with expectations of total earnings exceeding 2 billion shillings once operational. The project has created over 9,000 jobs, with 75 percent going to Tanzanians, while more than 200 Tanzanian companies have been awarded contracts worth 1.325 trillion shillings. Compensation for 99.4 percent of 9,927 project-affected persons has been completed, amounting to 35.06 billion shillings.
EACOP Tanzania Country Manager Engineer Geoffrey Mponda assured that the project employs advanced technologies including Horizontal Directional Drilling for river crossings, allowing the pipeline to pass 15 meters below riverbeds without disturbing aquatic ecosystems. The project also includes thermal insulation systems to prevent underground heat leakage and plans for solar farms to reduce carbon emissions.
Source: dailynews.co.tz