More delays hit East African Crude Oil Pipeline

Written By Tom Clarke

The construction of the massive East African Crude Oil Pipeline faces another hurdle – this time from within Uganda’s own Parliament.

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(March 25, 2021) – Last week the Minister of State for Planning, David Bahati, Minister of Energy and Mineral Development Mary Goretti Kitutu, and representatives of the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) appeared before the Ugandan parliament’s National Economy Committee requesting a supplementary budget to finance the UNOC’s equity share and other costs for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). 

The request was denied until further information about the “final investment decision” and a report from the auditor general are presented to the committee. 

Twenty-one Ugandan civil society organizations wrote to the parliament’s committee applauding the decision not to approve the additional funding and highlighting how the corporations are taking advantage of the Government’s desperation to conclude the final investment decision. 

“What kind of final investment decision can Ugandans expect from companies that are using dirty tricks to coerce a poor country like Uganda to enter into wrong and destructive oil decisions? This country cannot survive the oil curse amidst secretive dealings and corporate capture,” the organizations wrote in the letter.

Although the additional funding may yet be approved by the committee,  it is encouraging to see this reckless and misguided project attracting more scrutiny.

In another blow to the project, the Petroleum Authority of Uganda announced this week on twitter that the “launch” of EACOP – understood to be the deadline for the “final investment decision” scheduled for this week – has been postponed to April. The Authority said the decision was made out of respect for the national mourning period in the United Republic of Tanzania following the death in office of President Dr. John Pombe Magufuli.

Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on banks and insurance firms not to support EACOP in any way. Earlier this month, Credit Suisse and the UK’s Barclays became the first two commercial banks to make public commitments not to provide financing.

These delays are an opportunity for the governments involved to reconsider their support for this destructive project and instead look at the many sustainable alternatives that will actually deliver economic benefits to local communities in Uganda and neighboring countries.

Not only would the East African Crude Oil Pipeline displace communities, endanger wildlife and fuel climate change, but even on the economic front the project is grossly misguided. The world is moving away from fossil fuels and embracing clean energy and the jobs that come with it. Now is not the time to be sinking $3.5 billion into an oil project – those days are long gone, and it’s time to look to the future.

Tom Clarke
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