LWENGO: The East African Crude Oil Pipeline company Ltd (EACOP Ltd) and the government of Uganda on Friday, February 10th commenced the handover of replacement houses to Project Affected Persons (PAPs) along the Oil pipeline route to Tanzania.
The handover of the first batch of replacement houses to persons affected by the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) was flagged off by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Hon. Dr. Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu at Nkoma B Village in Lwengo district.
43 houses out of a total of 178 along the route in the districts of Kikuube, Kakumiro, Kyankwanzi, Sembabule, Rakai, Kyotera and Lwengo have so far been completed. In Uganda 203 of the 2,648 PAPs are Physically displaced, and of these 178 opted to choose replacement housing as in-kind compensation instead of monetary compensation.
Minister Nankabirwa, while officiating the handover ceremony commended the company for the fulfillment of commitments towards the Project Affected Persons and the continued support offered to them during the land acquisition process.
The Minister assured residents of the areas traversed by the oil pipeline that the 170,000 barrels of crude oil would go through areas daily without them even noticing.
Martin Tiffen, the Managing Director of EACOP Ltd said this resettlement housing construction is both a 100% national content effort and also a representation of their commitment to undertaking the development of the EACOP project responsibly and sustainably while observing the laws and regulations of Uganda, the Equator Principles IV, and the International Finance Corporation Performance Standards
The East African Crude Oil Pipeline is a 1,443 Km crude oil export infrastructure that will transport Uganda’s crude oil from Kabaale Hoima in Uganda to Chongoleani peninsula near Tanga in Tanzania for export to the international market.
It will have a peak capacity of 246,000 bbls/day. The first 296 km of EACOP are in Uganda and the remaining 1147 km are in Tanzania.
EACOP is being constructed in parallel with two upstream development projects which are not part of EACOP development and investment, known as Tilenga and Kingfisher respectively. Each development will consist of a Central Processing Facility (CPF) to separate and treat the oil, water and gas produced by the wells. Kingfisher will have 4 well pads and a CPF with a peak daily capacity of 42000 bbl/d. Tilenga has 31 wellpads and a 204000 bbl/d CPF Kingfisher was recently launched by the President.
Tilenga and Kingfisher CPFs will be connected by feeder lines to the starting point of EACOP at Kabaale. Here the oil will be metered and then comingled into a single stream. The Ugandan Refinery project has a right of first call to 60,000 bbl/d, with the remainder of the oil being exported via EACOP.
The pipeline route via Tanzania was confirmed in April 2016 at a summit with the East African Heads of State. In the period 2016-2018 the EACOP route was studied and narrowed down to its final width of 30 metres, allowing to then initiate land surveys and the Environmental and Social Impact Assessments.
This EACOP will be designed, constructed, financed and operated through a dedicated Pipeline Company with the same name. The shareholders in EACOP are affiliates of the three Upstream joint venture partners (the Uganda National Oil Company, Total Energies E&P Uganda and CNOOC Uganda) together with the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation. Shareholdings are Total Energies 62%, UNOC and TPDC 15% each and CNOOC 8%.
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