Tanzania President Suluhu welcomed to Uganda to seal oil deal

PROGRAMME

*⃣ 9.30am President Sulhu arrives Entebbe
*⃣ 11.10am Pres Suluhu recived by Pres Museveni
*⃣ 11.50am Tete-a-tete
*⃣ 12.55pm Signing ceremony begins
*⃣ 13.30pm Joint Communique
*⃣ 2.pm Luncheon
*⃣ 2.45pm Suluhu departs

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT|  Tanzania’s president Samia Hassan Suluhu is in Uganda to sign off an historic oil deal for the two East African countries.

The two Heads of state will summit and sign the Host Government Agreement as well as the Share Holder Agreement (for the Pipeline Company) and Tariff agreements. All these will speed up remaining talks on a Final Investment Decision (FDI) for oil and gas between government officials and industry leaders in the sector.

This is President Suluhu’s first state visit since her elevation to replace the late John Pombe Magufuli, as the president of Tanzania last month.

President Suluhu was met at the airport by Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa, before she joined President Yoweri Museveni for talks and signing at State House Entebbe.

Together the bi-summit will essentially finalize the agreements and launch the commercialization of oil in East African hinterland with their partners TOTAL and China’s CNOOC, according to US-based expert Angelo Izama.

“This week will mark the milestone for commercial oil development. FID or the Final Investment Decision to formally commit billions for it will henceforth be a formality after tomorrow. There will be celebration in Kampala,” remarked Izama on twitter.

The late Magufuli was due in Kampala on March 22 for the three-way signing of the crude oil export pipeline deal between the governments of Uganda and Tanzania and the French oil giant Total, the lead investor. However, he died a week before the due date.

Kampala then announced that the deal would be signed the early half of April, to pave the way for the construction of the 1440km export pipeline from Western Uganda to the Tanzanian Indian Ocean Port of Tanga. According to concluded discussions so far, construction of the pipeline will be completed within 36 months of the signing of the deal, and this will commence the commercial production of oil.

Refinery plans set

A refinery processing thousands of barrels a day is also planned to process crude oil and the finished products will be consumed by the local and regional markets. President Magufuli had vowed that it would take as short as 18 months and wanted all the other processes fast-tracked. The project is due to cost USD3.5 billion.

The final talks before the final deal is signed touch on the crude oil transportation, the transport tariffs as well as the shareholding structure of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Company, EACOP.

According to the current structure, Total SA owns 45 per cent shares in the company, while China’s CNOOC holds 35 per cent.

Another 15 per cent is held by the government of Uganda through the UNOC, with the other 5 per cent held by Tanzania through the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation. Uganda first discovered commercially viable oil deposits in 2007, but production dates have been postponed several times by legal and tax disputes.

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📌 FILE PHOTO: Magufuli and Samia 2015 pic.twitter.com/ssjO4OOIMr

— The Independent (@UGIndependent) March 11, 2021