Gulf Interstate Engineering, a United States-based engineering and design company, has invited Ugandan enterprises to a workshop to present the country’s East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) Front End Engineering Design (FEED) study findings.
The invitation ultimately seeks to boost opportunities for Ugandan businesses using the study as a benchmark to promote investment in the East African nation’s fuel industry, Uganda’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development has said.
EACOP is a 1,445-kilometre export pipeline that will transport Uganda’s crude oil to Tanzania.
Earlier reports confirmed that the oil pipeline will start in Buseruka sub-county, Hoima District, in Uganda’s Western Region. It will travel in a south-eastern direction to pass through Masaka in Uganda, Bukoba in Tanzania, loop around the southern shores of Lake Victoria, continue through Shinyanga and Siginda, to end in Tanga, a city in Tanzania.
Last April, Gulf Interstate Engineering was selected by Total Exploration & Production Uganda (TEPU) and its partners, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and Tullow Oil, to provide front-end engineering and design (FEED) services for the East African crude oil pipeline
The $3.5billion pipeline is planned to have a capacity of 216,000 barrels of crude oil per day, which will make Uganda a major fuel exporter in the region.
Gulf Interstate Engineering’s call to Ugandan enterprises comes ahead of an event titled the East African Energy Infrastructure Summit, slated for February 6th, 2017.
The affair, which will be held in Uganda’s capital of Kampala, is set to attract East African Ministries of Energy, other government representatives, and regulators from across the region.
The event will enable high-level discussions and identify the best investment opportunities for international investors, as well as outline regional plans for energy and infrastructure development.
The meeting will unite regional governments from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia, leading utility and regulatory companies from the region as well as international financiers, donor organizations, power developers to focus on what is needed to unlock investment in energy and infrastructure for regional growth and development.
Co-locating with an event dubbed the 2nd Off the Grid Summit, the meeting’s agenda will provide networking opportunities and open discussions exploring practical solutions geared at increasing investor appetite in East Africa.
In November 2017, Tanzania’s President John Magufuli opened a One Stop Border Post, laid a foundation stone for the Uganda-Tanzania oil pipeline at Ruzinga in Kyotera. Prior to that, the pipeline had piqued the interest of international investors, including Gulf Interstate Engineering.
At around the same time, Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni laid a foundation stone in Kabaale parish, Buseruka, Uganda, where the crude oil pipeline will begin.
Marking the next major milestone in the pipeline’s development, Gulf’s workshop will be held on the 17th of January, 2018.