All About the Tilenga and EACOP Projects

Uganda has made a strategic decision to exploit its oil resources in order to develop the country and lift its people out of poverty. Two projects were launched in the Lake Albert region of Uganda to develop the area’s significant oil reserves. One is called Kingfisher, operated by the Chinese company CNOOC, with a production of up to 40,000 barrels of oil per day. The other project is Tilenga, led by TotalEnergies. After start-up, Tilenga will produce up to 190,000 barrels per day. Together, both projects will reach m a total production of 230,000 barrels per day to meet global demand and pressing energy needs worldwide. But Uganda is a landlocked country with no access to the sea. It has joined forces with neighboring Tanzania to develop the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, the EACOP project, a fully buried pipeline between the two countries. Here are the shares of the different stakeholders in the two projects. TotalEnergies has been selected for its ability to warrant the reliability of the infrastructures built and the implementation of the highest social and environmental standards.

Let’s discover it through 4 topics: The Tilenga project involves developing six fields and drilling 420 wells at 29 locations. The production will then be transported through buried pipes to a Central Processing Facility, where the fluids, oil, water and gas, will be separated and treated. The construction phase is currently ongoing: facilities construction, flowlines and roads construction, as well as drilling. Three rigs are already being used. One of the fields developed is located beneath the Murchison Falls National Park. The others are located south of the Victoria Nile, in sparsely populated rural areas where the activities are essentially agricultural. The project is designed to minimize any potentially harmful impacts to the environment.

The EACOP project is a different challenge. It involves the construction of a 1,443 km fully buried pipeline between the city of Kabaale in Uganda and the port of Tanga in Tanzania, where a storage terminal and a loading jetty will also be constructed. The pipeline will have six pumping stations: two in Uganda and four in Tanzania. It also includes a thermal insulation and heat-tracing heating system. Tilenga’s oil needs to be kept above 50°C during transit but at full flow condition, the EACOP pipeline will not need to be heated. The pipeline route has been designed to avoid areas of environmental interest as much as possible.

Construction works have already begun. In March 2024, the thermal insulation plant has been inaugurated in Tanzania. Civil works are ongoing at the Tanga Terminal as well as at the offshore jetty. The pipeline installation is scheduled to start in the coming months. Like any infrastructure construction project worldwide, Tilenga and EACOP projects require land acquisition. This process is undertaken by TotalEnergies and EACOP on behalf of the Ugandan and Tanzanian governments, in accordance with the stringent standards of the International Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of the World Bank. Resettlement action plans involved collaborating with relevant authorities and local stakeholders.

The goal was to mitigate potential negative effects, compensate for losses, and provide development benefits to individuals and communities affected by the projects. The project required the acquisition of 6,400 hectares of land, impacting 19,140 households. It included everyone with assets impacted by the project, such as permanent or temporary structures or an economic activity. 775 households (around 5,000 people) reside on the affected land and are relocated to nearby better living conditions. This land acquisition process is about to be finalized. Almost the entirety of the households have been compensated and those affected have moved to their new residences. As of end of April 2024, 99% of affected households have signed compensation agreements and 98% have been paid. Other initiatives have been launched. For example, a distribution of food baskets as a transitional support depending on the level of impact and a three-season training program called “Livelihood Restoration”. It provides training in agricultural activities, in finance management, and assistance in developing small businesses. Part of Tilenga and EACOP project activities overlap sensitive areas. Action plans are implemented to manage the impacts of the projects with the overall objective of having net positive impacts for biodiversity and ecosystem services. On the Tilenga project, for example, inside the Murchison Falls National Park, the project’s permanent footprint is restricted to less than 0.03% of the park’s surface area. TotalEnergies EP Uganda has implemented the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Action Plan.

It has four key pillars to help protect and enhance the biodiversity of the Albertine Region. By 2045, it aims: to reduce human pressure on Murchison Falls Protected Area, to protect the integrity and connectivity of savannah habitats, to preserve and restore wetlands and riparian vegetation, as well as to act similarly for forests and forest connectivity. On a practical basis, it means enhancing law enforcement by the Ugandan Wildlife Authority. To this end, the number of park rangers will increase through training programs and financial aids. This assistance to UWA has enabled them to perform effectively in their search of snares. 3,000 snares have already been removed since the start of the project. The ambition is to increase by 25% the population of lions and elephants, as well as maintaining the number of giraffes and antelopes in the park. 350 hectares of tropical forest have already been restored out of the 1,000 planned. This represents 140,000 trees planted since 2022. Regarding EACOP, the pipeline route was finalized based on a rigorous review of environmental, biodiversity and social constraints. It does not cross any International Union for Conservation of Nature protected areas or Ramsar sites. It is mainly located on agricultural land or unused or even uninhabited land. The pipeline will be entirely buried. Its maximum footprint will be 30 meters wide during construction phase and will decrease to 10 meters when exploitation begins. After completion, the pipeline will be revegetated and 70% of its footprint will reacquire its original state. The projects have each been the subject of a detailed plan covering local employment, local sourcing of goods and services, and local skills development. These plans have been approved by the national authorities.

Overall, an estimated $1.2 billion will be directly spent with local contractors during the construction phase for both the Tilenga and EACOP projects. Two years after the FID had been signed, $874 million have been spent, that is 69% of the amount planned. The projects have already created 13,620 direct jobs, out of 15,320 at peak mobilization, and 45,000 indirect jobs out of 51,000 at peak mobilization for Ugandan and Tanzanian nationals. 2.3 million hours of training will be delivered to local and national workers across the two countries in technical, HSE, and personnel development areas. This will have a sustainable impact as 40% of the capabilities developed through this training are expected to be directly applicable to other industries and projects. For example, TotalEnergies EP Uganda has selected and offered grants to 200 Ugandan youths to join the Tilenga Academy training program. Some of them could be recruited by TEPU at the end of their two-and-a-half-year training. The Tilenga and EACOP projects are selecting the providers of required goods and services on transparent and competitive tendering. Priority is given to locally obtainable goods and services and purchasing from national and local community companies. The Project’s contractors are committed to respect the projects’ values, such as the Human Rights, the Anti-Bribery Policy, and the Projects’ safety standards. TotalEnergies EP Uganda and EACOP will ensure the reliability of all infrastructures, and will implement the highest social and environmental standards to protect biodiversity within the impacted sites.