Uganda is developing the $3.5 billion 1,445-kilometer East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) that will start from oil fields in its Albertine rift basin on its western border with Congo to Tanzania's Indian Ocean seaport of Tanga.
The pipeline is for transporting Uganda's crude to
international markets when the country starts production in
2025.
Congo's Ministry of Hydrocarbons said in a Twitter statement
late on Tuesday that its minister Didier Budimbu met Uganda's
energy minister Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu, with discussions
involving access to the pipeline.
"Uganda acknowledged the crucial requirement of DRC to
access the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) for the
transport of crude oil to be produced from the oil exploration
blocks located in the Albertine Graben in the Democratic
Republic of Congo," the statement read.
Congo and Uganda share the oil-rich basin of Albertine
Graben.
Technical teams from both sides would discuss and prepare reports to be presented to the two ministers who would then brief the countries' presidents on signing a Memorandum of Understanding, according to the statement.
A spokesperson for Uganda's energy minister confirmed the talks and said the EACOP had been designed for potential use by Uganda's neighbours including Congo and South Sudan. Last year Congo put up for auction 30 oil and gas blocks, although environmentalists say development of some of the blocks would open up ecologically sensitive areas and release vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema and Sonia Rolley; Editing by Bhargav Acharya and Chizu Nomiyama)
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