Total, CNOOC sign agreements to build Uganda-Tanzania crude pipeline

Total SE, China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), Uganda National Oil Co. (UNOC), and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corp., have concluded final agreements needed to begin work on the heated 897-mile, 24-in. OD East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and the Lake Albert rift basin development project. EACOP will run from western Uganda to the Indian Ocean port of Tanga in Tanzania, delivering as much as 300,000 b/d.

Total anticipates that main engineering, procurement, and construction contracts “will be awarded shortly,” with first oil exports planned for early 2025. EACOP will include six pump stations and a heat tracing system to maintain a minimum internal temperature of 50° C.

Lake Albert development comprises Tilenga and Kingfisher discovery areas in Uganda. Upstream ownership is divided between Total (56.67%), CNOOC (28.33%), and UNOC (15%). Total operates Tilenga and CNOOC Kingfisher, with Total estimating combined plateau production of the two fields at 230,000 b/d.  

Tilenga is in the Buliisa and Nwoya districts and includes development of six fields and drilling more than 400 wells from 31 sites. Wells planned include 200 water-injections wells, 196 production wells, two polymer-pilot wells, and 28 reference wells.  

Production will be delivered through 160 km of buried flowlines to a 190,000-b/d treatment plant in Kasenyi, Uganda. All produced water will be reinjected into the fields, according to Total, and the gas will be used to power the treatment plant. Surplus electricity will be exported to the pipeline and the Ugandan grid.

One of the fields developed is inside Murchison Falls Park. The others are outside the park, south of the Victoria Nile in sparsely populated rural areas and agricultural areas.

The company last year acquired Tullow Oil PLC’s Ugandan assets for $575 million (OGJ Online, Apr. 23, 2020).