Kikuube, Uganda — President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, whilst attending the Kingfisher drilling inauguration ceremony on Tuesday, has also witnessed the handover of the license to Construct the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). The handover was done by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, (MEMD) Ruth Nankabirwa, at the Kingfisher Oil Fields, at Buhuka, Kyangwali, Kikuube District.

The License was granted by the Ministry, following the application submitted on 1st July 2022, in compliance and accordance with Section 10 of the Petroleum ( Refining, Conversion, Transmission, and Midstream Storage) Act 2013, Regulation 59 of the Petroleum (Refining, Conversion, Transmission, and Midstream Storage) Act 2016, and the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Special Provisions Act 2021 and found satisfactory.

The construction license is required to enable EACOP to formally start on the ground construction activities in Uganda as part of the development of the 1,443km, 24- inch diameter insulated and buried crude oil pipeline that will start from Kabaale, Hoima in Uganda to Chongoleani, Tanga in Tanzania.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, Martin Tiffen, EACOP Ltd Managing Director, said, "This marks another step forward for EACOP as it allows the commencement of our construction activities in Uganda upon completion of the ongoing land access process. We are grateful to the government of Uganda for the expedited delivery of the application as per the commitment in the Host Government Agreement (HGA) and the continuous support for implementation of the EACOP project."

The licensed upstream oil companies are leading the development of this pipeline in Uganda: Total Energies (62% shares), CNOOC Uganda (8%), Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) [15%), and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation ( TPDC) [15% ].