East Africa pipeline project takes new twist

Delayed construction of a 1,120-kilometer-long, $4.5-billion crude-oil pipeline in East Africa changed course when Uganda proposed a second, 1,410-km-long, $4-billion route through Tanzania to the Indian Ocean, abandoning the original agreement to go through Kenya. The original agreement between Kenya and Uganda was to construct a pipeline to transport crude oil from Hoima in Uganda's Lake Albert region through Lokichar, Kenya, where Tullow Oil Plc, London, discovered an estimated recoverable 600 million barrels, and terminating at Lamu Port, which is under construction to expand capacity. At a Northern Corridor Integration Projects (NCIP) summit in Kampala, Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta and Uganda President Yoweri Museveni announced that the two countries now will construct two separate pipelines to transport crude from the neighboring East African states to the Indian Ocean ports of Tanga and Lamu. Fred Kabagambe-Kaliisa, permanent secretary in Uganda's ministry of energy, in a public statement in April said constructing a crude pipeline through Tanzania, instead of Kenya. Three international oil companies developing Uganda's crude in the Lake Albert area have signed a memorandum of understanding with Uganda for the commercialization of the hydrocarbons through crude to power, refining and export to the international market. Uganda and Kenya are constructing a 352-km white-petroleum-products pipeline, linking Eldoret and Kampala. The project has a late 2016 completion date.