HOIMA – President Yoweri Museveni on Tuesday, whilst attending the Kingfisher drilling inauguration ceremony, witnessed the handover of the licence to sanctioning the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline – EACOP.
The Minister of Energy and Mineral Development – MEMD, Ruth Nankabirwa handed over the licence at the Kingfisher Oil Fields – Buhuka, Kyangwali, Kikuube district.
The Licence was granted by the Ministry, following the application submitted July 2022, in compliance and accordance with Section 10 of the Petroleum (Refining, Conversion, Transmission, and Midstream Storage) Act 2013, Regulation 59 of the Petroleum (Refining, Conversion, Transmission, and Midstream Storage) Act 2016, and the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Special Provisions Act 2021 and found satisfactory.
The construction licence is required to enable EACOP to formally start on the ground assembling activities in Uganda as part of the development of the 1,443km, 24- inch diameter insulated and buried crude oil pipeline that will start from Kabaale, Hoima in Uganda to Chongoleani, Tanga in Tanzania.
Speaking at the handover ceremony, Martin Tiffen – EACOP Ltd Managing Director, said: “This marks another step forward for EACOP as it allows the commencement of our construction activities in Uganda upon completion of the on-going land access process.
“We are grateful to the government of Uganda for the expedited delivery of the application as per the commitment in the Host Government Agreement – HGA and the continuous support for implementation of the EACOP project.”
The licenced upstream oil companies are leading the development of this pipeline in Uganda: Total Energies (62% shares), CNOOC Uganda (8%), Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) [15%), and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) [15%].
