Construction is underway on the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and Tilenga well drilling project, as Uganda aims to begin extracting its own oil in 2025. The project involves a 1.443-kilometre long heated pipeline from the shores of Lake Albert in Uganda to the port of Tanga in Tanzania, and has been jointly developed by French TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), along with Ugandan and Tanzanian state oil companies.
While TotalEnergies and Ugandan authorities claim that the vast majority of the project-affected persons (PAPs) have been adequately compensated for the loss of their land, houses, fields, and crops, some NGOs are claiming that PAPs agreed to proposed compensations out of fear. Some who did not agree to sign have been taken to court by the Ugandan government.
Local residents have had mixed experiences with the arrival of the oil companies, with some benefiting from land buyouts and scholarships, while others have been taken to court for opposing the project. TotalEnergies has claimed that Tilenga will create 7,000 jobs in the Lake Albert region. However, some residents say they have not all experienced the economic impact of the project in the same way.
Despite the mixed results, TotalEnergies maintains that the project meets the “highest standards” and has limited the number of wells inside the national park and designed the pipeline to minimize its impact on the environment. Philippe Groueix, Managing Director of TotalEnergies in Uganda, also asserts that the response to the compensation was positive overall, and that there will always be detractors.
Concern surrounding the east Africa crude oil pipeline project
The country has been ruled with an iron fist since 1986 by Yoweri Museveni, who had described the project as a major economic source. Some PAPs are concerned that the project will bring more harm than good, with one farmer claiming that “we can tell future generations that oil is a curse rather than a blessing.”
Total Energies legal battle
Today, TotalEnergies has been cleared of a significant legal case against it in a French court, after six NGOs filed a suit claiming that the company’s East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project in Uganda and Tanzania did not adhere to a 2017 law requiring companies to avoid harm to human rights, health, safety and the environment. The NGOs accused TotalEnergies of taking land from over 100,000 people without adequate compensation and drilling wells in the Murchison Falls National Park. The court ruled the case was inadmissible, stating that the plaintiffs had not followed correct court procedures and had submitted accounts that differed significantly from those presented to TotalEnergies in a formal notice in 2019. The $10bn oilfields and pipeline project is being developed by TotalEnergies, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and the state-owned Uganda National Oil Company
Image Credit: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
