Uganda Gives Environmental Consent to $3.5 Billion Oil Pipeline

摘要

Uganda granted environmental approval to Total for a $3.5 billion pipeline to ship crude oil from western fields to the Indian Ocean coast in Tanzania, despite pressure from lobby groups.The planned pipeline, from fields co-owned by France's Total and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), would cross sensitive ecological systems including wildlife-rich areas, rivers and swampland that are catchments for Lake Victoria, according to Reuters.The 900-mile (1,445-km) pipeline, which will run to Tanga port in Tanzania, is key to landlocked Uganda's start of commercial oil production.Uganda, with estimated reserves of 6 billion barrels, discovered oil in the Albertine rift basin in 2006, but production efforts stalled because of disagreements with foreign oil companies over taxes and development strategy.