The final investment decision on a planned $3.5 billion oil pipeline from Uganda to Tanzania’s coast is expected to be reached in December, according to the Tanzanian national oil company.
“Construction of the project’s infrastructure is scheduled to begin in early 2021,” the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corp. said in a statementon its website on Friday. “We expect to relaunch a call for tenders soon and conclude negotiations between the project’s joint venture partners and the governments of Uganda and Tanzania by September.”
Uganda plans to start producing and exporting oil via the conduit from 2023-24 following its discovery of commercially viable deposits in 2006. Plans to develop the oil fields resumed after Tullow Oil Plcresolved tax disagreements with Uganda, allowing it sell its assets in that country to Total SA. Cnooc Ltd. of China owns fields there too.
Tanzania’s announcement comes a day after a group of climate activists protested Standard Bank Group Ltd.’s plan to help fund the project. 350.org handed over their petition to Africa’s largest lender in Johannesburg, saying the pipeline set to traverse the two countries may cause irreversible environmental damage.
