Uganda Lures DRC into the East Africa Crude Oil Project

The Uganda government is trying to interest the Democratic Republic of Congo to use the East Africa crude oil project (EACOP) to export its oil. Earlier this week Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Eng Irene Muloni hosted a delegation of Congolese Officials led by the DRC Minister of Hydrocarbons Prof Aimer Ngoi Mukena Lusa Diese here in Kampala to strengthen the bilateral relations and corporations between them in the energy sector.

The two countries which share the oil rich Albertine Graben also head discussions on how best the two countries can work jointly in the exploration and development of oil fields.

Another factor on the need to include the DRC onto the pipeline project is the fact that French oil giant Total E&P which has said it will help finance the East Africa crude oil project holds blocks in both countries thus a scenario of shared resources could help any oil discoveries in DRC get to the market faster. While Total already has oil discoveries in Uganda together with joint venture partners CNOOC and Tullow Oil its DRC block III which has seen 2D seismic acquisition in 2016 alongside of SacOil.

Notably there is an existing agreement between Tanzania and DRC on joint exploration and development of hydrocarbons in Lake Tanganyika the world’s second largest by volume and second deepest with Tanzania having stakes in the East Africa crude oil project .

The EACOP route begins Kabaale-Hoima in Uganda and extends to the Chongoleani Peninsula near the Tanga port some 1445 kilometers at a cost of $3.5 billion. The pipeline has a capacity to transport 216kbd and is expected to be commissioned in 2020