The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s hydrocarbons ministry has revealed that negotiations are beginning with Uganda regarding the prospect of utilizing Uganda’s planned crude oil pipeline to export petroleum.
The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which Uganda is developing at a cost of $3.5 billion, would connect oil deposits in Uganda’s Albertine rift basin on the country’s western border with Congo to the port of Tanga on the Indian Ocean in Tanzania.
When Uganda starts producing oil in 2025, the pipeline will be utilized to carry the country’s oil to international markets.
Congo’s Ministry of Hydrocarbons announced in a late Tuesday tweet that its minister, Didier Budimbu, met with Uganda’s energy minister, Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu, to discuss access to the pipeline.
“Uganda acknowledged the crucial requirement of the DRC to access the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) for the transport of crude oil produced from the oil exploration blocks located in the Albertine Graben in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” the statement said. The Albertine Graben, which is rich in oil, is found in both Congo and Uganda.
According to the statement, technical teams from both countries will debate and prepare reports before informing the presidents of both countries on the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding.
A spokeswoman from Uganda’s energy ministry confirmed the talks, noting that the EACOP was designed with Uganda’s neighbors, such as Congo and South Sudan, in mind.
Last year, Congo placed thirty oil and gas blocks up for sale, despite environmentalists’ worries that producing some of the blocks would endanger ecologically sensitive areas and produce significant carbon emissions.
