KAMPALA, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Uganda and Tanzania on Sunday signed three key agreements to kick off the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).
Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni and his Tanzanian counterpart Samia Suluhu Hassan witnessed the signing of the agreements at State House Entebbe, 40 km south of the Ugandan capital Kampala.
The two countries signed the Host Government Agreement, Share Holder Agreement (for the pipeline company) and Tariff agreements.
Partners in the pipeline agreement Total and China National Offshore Oil Corporation also witnessed the signing of the agreements.
The signing of the agreements paves way for the construction of the 1,440 km crude oil pipeline from Uganda's Albertine region to the Tanzanian seaport of Tanga.
The 3.55-billion-U.S.-dollar pipeline will be the longest electrically heated pipeline in the world. It is heated because of the waxy nature of Uganda's oil. Uganda has so far discovered over 6.5 billion barrels of oil.
Tanzanian President Hassan after witnessing the signing said the project would not only benefit Uganda and Tanzania alone but the entire region.
"The project will bring revenues to the regional countries and more than 10,000 jobs will be created," she said.
She also said the EACOP will unlock the regional potential and attract more investors to east Africa.
"Our region is well-endowed with abundant resources. In order to fully and effectively exploit these resources, we need infrastructure," she said.
Ugandan President Museveni said the pipeline will transport 230,000 barrels per day and therefore South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo could take advantage and use the facility.
"This pipeline could turn out to be a very important project that could serve the entire region in the long term. We could build a return pipeline to carry gas from Tanzania to Uganda and the entire region," Museveni added. Enditem
