Uganda and Tanzania signed an agreement on their proposed $3.55 billion crude oil pipeline.
According to the different sources, this pipeline is assumed to will be “the longest electrically heated crude oil pipeline in the world” – said Guy Maurice, the Senior Vice President of Africa at Total Exploration and Production.
Total is one of one of the owners of Ugandan oilfields, alongside China’s Cnooc and Britain’s Tullow Oil.
The Uganda- Tanzania Crude Oil Pipeline (UTCOP) will stretch from Hoima, Uganda’s Western region where crude reserves were discovered in 2006, to Tanzania’s Indian Ocean Seaport of Tanga.
Uganda’s President, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni with his counterpart John Pombe Magufuli, the Tanzanian President, met on Saturday and laid a foundation stone for the construction of a 3.55 billion crude export pipeline.
The foundation stone was laid at Chongoleani, in the port city of Tanga.
The 1445 Km – project is set to be completed by 2020, and it will help to pump Ugandan oil for international markets.
“We don’t need to delay the completion of the project for almost three years. They can do it even night and day to ensure the project is completed as quickly as possible,” said President Magufuli after laying the foundation stone with the Uganda’s President, urging the three joint venture partners (Total, China’s Cnooc and Britain’s Tullow Oil).
“Act with big speed and make sure you finish this project by 2020,” he added, as reports have shown.
The Ugandan President was reported saying that Uganda picked Tanzania over its other neighbor Kenya as the route for the proposed 24-inch export pipeline stating that it was a “least cost and least risky” option
“Tanzania offered several concessions to make the pipeline profitable in spite of the falling global crude oil prices,” said the President of Uganda.
“Tanzania agreed to waive taxes, offered to take up shares in the pipeline project and charge a tariff of $12.2 per barrel to make the project feasible,” said President Museveni in addition.
Sources have shown that not only will Uganda and Tanzania benefit from the pipeline, but also countries in the region such as Kenya, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Reporter: Shamilah Namuddu
