This archive report was first published on 28 July 2019.
On July 26, 2019, Chinese oil firm China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) announced its intention to take a stake in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project, which will export Ugandan crude oil.
The 1,445 km pipeline, costing $3.5 billion, will pass through neighboring Tanzania to the Indian Ocean port of Tanga. CNOOC jointly owns Uganda's oil fields with France's Total and Britain's Tullow.
According to Aminah Bukenya, spokeswoman for the firm's Ugandan unit, CNOOC will participate in the EACOP project, with the level of its equity stake to be determined by the joint venture partners.
Uganda discovered crude oil reserves about 13 years ago, but commercial production has been delayed due to a lack of infrastructure, such as an export pipeline. The pipeline's cost will be financed by a combination of debt and equity, with a Ugandan unit of South Africa's Standard Bank Group and Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp jointly helping to raise the credit.
