Ugandan crude export pipeline boost

EACOP has overcome a significant hurdle, with a group of regional banks providing an initial financing tranche for a scheme that has attracted criticism from environmental campaigners

Efforts to build a pipeline to send crude oil 1,443km from Uganda’s Lake Albert oilfields to Tanzania’s port of Tanga inched forward in late March, with the first external financing tranche closing on the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. EACOP Ltd—shareholders in which are TotalEnergies (62%), Uganda National Oil Company Limited (UNOC: 15%), Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC: 15%) and China’s state-controlled CNOOC (8%)—said the successful closing of this first tranche of external financing, understood to be worth $1b, represented a significant milestone. EACOP said it demonstrates the support of financial institutions on “transformative regional infrastructure”. The financing