Tanzania just approved a $3.5 billion pipeline project.
The pipeline would deliver Ugandan oil to Tanzanian soil.
The project is a collaboration between the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), TotalEnergies of France, and the Uganda National Oil Company, which is owned by the government of Uganda.
Tanzania approved the construction of a $3.5 billion East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline on February 21st (EACOP).
The 1,443-kilometer (900-mile) pipeline would deliver crude oil from oilfields being constructed near Lake Albert in Uganda to a Tanzanian port on the Indian Ocean.
The pipeline required authorization from both countries, and Uganda awarded the East African Crude Oil Pipeline project operator a license last month (EACOP).
Wendy Brown, the Tanzanian general manager for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, stated at the ceremony to receive the certificate of certification that the project's approval represents yet another significant milestone for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
"This construction approval signifies another step forward for EACOP, as it permits the initiation of the primary construction activities in Tanzania following the conclusion of the ongoing land access process," she explained.
It is being developed in conjunction with the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), TotalEnergies of France, and the Uganda National Oil Company, which is owned by the government.
The oilfields and pipeline proposal has been faced with significant opposition from human rights activists and environmental organisations, who argue that it endangers the region's fragile ecosystem and endangers tens of thousands of lives.
Since last year, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has also experienced this pushback, despite his insistence that he intends to make oil exploration a big component of Uganda's economy.
In 2022 and 2023, the Ugandan President was greeted with protests by environmentalist organisations such as Friends of the Earth, the European Union, and indigenous environment groups in Uganda to halt the development of projects that they believed would result in the displacement of the natives.
Yet, he announced this year that Uganda's ambition to become a major oil exporter in Africa remains intact, and he pledged to considerably bolster Uganda's economy through the oil trade.
The energy void produced by the Russia-Ukraine war presents Africa with an opportunity to fill a sizable portion of the global oil market.
Hence, an increasing number of oil exploration projects are cropping up across the continent, and East Africa is no exception.
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