The controversial pipeline is for carrying Ugandan crude oil to foreign markets when production begins in 2025.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has begun talks with neighboring Uganda over the possible use of the east African country’s planned crude oil pipeline for petroleum exports, the DRC’s Ministry of Hydrocarbons said.
Uganda is developing the $3.5 billion 1,445 km (898 mi) East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) that will run from oil fields in the Albertine Gorge basin on the western border with the DRC to Tanga, the seaport in the Indian Ocean in Tanzania.
The controversial pipeline is for transporting Ugandan crude oil to international markets when production begins in 2025.
The DRC Ministry of Hydrocarbons said in a Twitter statement late Tuesday that its minister, Didier Budimbu, had met with Ugandan Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu to discuss access to the pipeline.
“Uganda recognized the critical requirement of the DRC to access the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) for the transportation of crude oil to be produced from the oil exploration blocks in the Albertine Graben in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” it said. the explanation.
DRC and Uganda share the oil-rich Albertine Graben Basin.
Technical teams from both sides would discuss and prepare reports to be presented to the two ministers, who would then inform the countries’ presidents about signing a memorandum of understanding, the statement said.
A spokesman for Uganda’s energy minister confirmed the talks and said the EACOP was designed for possible use by Uganda’s neighboring countries, including the DRC and South Sudan. Uganda and neighboring Tanzania are also confident they will receive funding for a planned crude export pipeline.
Last year, the DRC auctioned 30 oil and gas blocks, though environmentalists have said developing some of the blocks would open up ecologically sensitive areas and release huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
Prominent Ugandan conservationists such as Vanessa Nakate and Uganda’s Bill McKibben spoke out against the EACOP and supported a campaign called #StopEACOP to dissuade insurers and banks from financing the project.