On Tuesday, oil drilling got under way in a Ugandan field run by the Chinese.
A government official stated that the nation of East Africa anticipated beginning production by 2025.
The field is run by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).
“It is an exciting moment for us as a national oil company but also an exciting moment for us as a country because there has been a general fatigue within the country on when first oil will come out. Today is not first oil, but it certainly is a big step in the right direction. It’s the day when we commission the drilling of the wells that will lead us to commercial production”, said Proscovia Nabbanja, CEO of Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC).
The start of the oil pipeline’s construction between Tanzania and Uganda was additionally announced by the government.
“Oil from Kingfisher will go northwards – 50 kilometres – to Kabaale as will the oil from the Tilenga development will come south 100 kilometres to Kabaale, which is the starting point for the EACOP (East African Crude Oil Pipeline) pipeline and they will be transported onwards to Tanga where it can then be exported to world markets.
So the three projects, Kingfisher, Tilenga and EACOP, they really go hand-in-glove together, you can’t have one without the other. The pipeline has to transport the oil and the oil has to be produced here so the three projects are tightly interlinked”, explained Martin Tiffen, Managing Director of East Africa Crude. Oil Pipeline.
The project has been dubbed the longest heated oil pipeline in the world by authorities.
Concerns about the pipeline’s consequences on the environment and nearby communities have been expressed by climate campaigners. Read here
