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Unlocking East Africa’s Potential

The East African Crude Oil Pipeline Project (EACOP) is a pipeline that will transport oil produced from Uganda’s Lake Albert oilfields to the port of Tanga in Tanzania where the oil will then be sold onwards to world markets. The pipeline is buried and once topsoil and vegetation have been re-instated people and animals will be able to cross freely anywhere along its length.

Overview

EACOP runs 1,443km from Kabaale, Hoima district in Uganda to the Chongoleani Peninsula near Tanga Port in Tanzania. 80% of the pipeline is in Tanzania. It is a buried thermally insulated 24″ pipeline along with six pumping stations (two in Uganda and four in Tanzania) ending at Tanga with a Terminal and Jetty. Here crude oil will be loaded onto tankers.

Benefits

EACOP allows Uganda to unlock value from its own natural resources, and represents a significant inward investment of some $4 billion across both Uganda and Tanzania, thus value creation is also extended to Tanzania. The new corridor linking the two countries will bring benefits including the development of new infrastructure, logistics, technology transfer as well as improving the livelihoods of communities along the route.

Sustainable Development

EACOP fully recognises its responsibilities both to environmental protection and the people, land and communities that will be impacted by the project, especially during the construction phase. For this reason EACOP pledges to uphold not just the legal requirements in both Uganda and Tanzania, but also to fully comply with the IFC Performance Standards that set out international best practice in these areas

Land Acquisition

Land acquisition is a two-phase process. Prior to 2021 the focus was on surveying and establishing valuations. During this first phase, land-users were both able to and encouraged to continue to use their land. The second implementation phase of land acquisition concerns the payment of compensation and establishment of in-kind support programmes.

Per best practice, the compensation is calculated with a disturbance allowance and an uplift to reflect the time elapsed since the original surveys.

Some 13,161 Project Affected Persons (PAPs) along the pipeline route will receive compensation in cash and in-kind directly from EACOP, in line with both National Legislation and the IFC Performance Standards. The vast majority of these PAPs (96%) have some portion of their land impacted and will receive compensation for the full replacement cost of their land, structures, crops and trees. Some 4% of the PAPs also require their primary dwelling to be relocated, and they are offered replacement houses of a higher standard than their existing dwelling. In addition to cash compensation, the majority of PAPs will also be entitled to in-kind compensation including transitional food support, financial literacy training and access to livelihood restoration programs.

In both countries, EACOP has established a field-based team of Community Relations Coordinators and Community Liaison Officers together with an accessible grievance mechanism. This allows to maintain a constant dialogue between EACOP and the PAPs together with the surrounding communities. PAPs will leave their affected land only after they have been paid their compensation and received their notice to vacate. This compensation process was started in 2021 and full land access is planned to be achieved in 2023.

Environmental Aspects

EACOP has Regulator approved Environmental and Social Impact Assessments for both the Ugandan and Tanzanian sections.

The pipeline route has been finalised based on rigorous application of the ‘avoid, minimise, restore and offset’ mitigation hierarchy, over several years, to integrate the multiple technical, societal and environmental constraints and weave an optimised right of way (30m width corridor) with the least overall impact, seeking to avoid densely populated and environmentally sensitive areas.

The pipeline route does not go under Lake Victoria or cross any IUCN categorised sites. Some 8% of the pipeline length traverses designated areas covering an area of 3.5 km2; the pipeline will be buried and the surface vegetation restored so as to be almost invisible in operation. Furthermore the majority of these are along the boundaries of such areas that have already been largely modified by farming and other human activity.

In line with the IFC Performance Standard 6, EACOP is also committed to achieve a Net Gain of biodiversity values in critical habitats and No Net Loss in natural habitats.

To minimise greenhouse gas emissions from the operation of the pipeline, EACOP is planning to implement several carbon footprint reduction (CFR) measures including: full electrification of pumping stations in Uganda, where grid electricity is mainly generated from hydroelectric plants; and a hybrid power generation solution in Tanzania combining thermal power generation, solar energy from five solar farms to be installed along the pipeline, battery storage and interconnection to the Tanzanian electricity grid.

Latest Updates & Events

EACOP Hosts Journalists for Insightful Tour of Uganda’s Oil and Gas Projects

November 17, 2024

This week, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), in collaboration with its partners—TotalEnergies Uganda, UNOC, CNOOC Uganda, and ACME Africa—hosted a group of journalists from leading national and regional