Uganda’s oil dream has become more than a promise but a living reality, shifting investor confidence and showcasing Africa’s right to develop its resources. The East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) is officially 75% complete, with every inch of pipe delivered along the 1,443-kilometre route to Tanzania’s Tanga port. The story is changing. The once-distant possibility of exporting Ugandan crude is suddenly within reach, marking one of East Africa’s most consequential energy milestones in decades.
This rapid acceleration is not just a construction update; it is a turning point that reshapes Uganda’s economic prospects, East Africa’s regional energy architecture, and Africa’s global positioning in an era where fossil fuels are contested but still economically decisive.
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EACOP is unlike any other pipeline on the continent. Designed as the world’s longest electrically heated crude pipeline, it will transport Uganda’s waxy crude from the Albertine Graben, specifically the Tilenga and Kingfisher fields, across 10 Ugandan districts and 25 Tanzanian districts to the Indian Ocean.
This is a 1,443 km, $5-billion project stretching 296 km through Uganda and 1,147 km through Tanzania, designed to transport 246,000 barrels of oil per day at peak capacity. It is owned by TotalEnergies (62%), Uganda’s UNOC (15%), Tanzania’s TPDC (15%), and CNOOC (8%). Construction is 75% complete, while the upstream Tilenga and Kingfisher projects stand at 60% and 74% progress, respectively. Over $3.3 billion has already been invested, with an additional $4 billion committed for upstream development between 2025–2027. With all pipeline sections delivered and a decisive year ahead, Uganda is aiming for first oil in the second half of 2026.
The 75% completion of EACOP marks the beginning of a new era for Uganda, positioning oil as a catalyst for energy-driven industrialisation. The country sees crude production not just as an export opportunity but as a launchpad for petrochemical manufacturing, a domestic pipeline network, expanded industrial parks in Hoima, and the growth of heavy transport and logistics. With government projections estimating $2–3 billion in annual peak revenues, the economic ripple effects are expected to spread across steel, construction, finance, and services, laying the foundation for wider economic diversification. At the same time, Uganda is investing heavily in its people: over 800 citizens are being trained in welding, pipe-fitting, and petroleum operations, making this the largest technical capacity-building effort in modern Ugandan history.
A central pillar of Uganda’s strategy is stringent national content enforcement, which requires local sourcing, joint ventures with Ugandan firms, and SME capacity development, ensuring that the benefits of the oil sector build long-term industrial capability rather than flowing outward. On a macroeconomic level, Uganda anticipates that oil exports will strengthen foreign reserves, stabilise the shilling, and reduce balance-of-payments pressures. With EACOP already one of East Africa’s largest sources of FDI, investor confidence is rising, solidifying oil as both an economic stabiliser and an anchor for Uganda’s next phase of national development.
EACOP’s impact stretches far beyond Uganda, reshaping East Africa’s entire energy landscape. Tanzania gains steady transit revenues, a modernised Tanga port, new roads, power, and fibre-optic infrastructure, and enhanced geopolitical leverage as a regional export hub. For East Africa more broadly, the pipeline positions the region as a new crude export frontier, encourages joint pipeline and refining collaborations, and deepens regional integration through shared infrastructure networks. On a continental scale, EACOP reinvigorates the debate around Africa’s right to develop its hydrocarbon resources amid global pressure for rapid decarbonisation, standing as a symbol of the continent’s commitment to pursue development on its own terms.
Uganda’s path to first oil has been a long, complex, two-decade journey that began with the 2006 discovery of commercial reserves in the Albertine Rift Basin. What initially sparked hopes of rapid transformation soon became slowed by disagreements over whether to prioritise a refinery or an export pipeline, prolonged negotiations with TotalEnergies and CNOOC, contentious land acquisition processes, difficulties securing financing, and shifting geopolitical pressures. These challenges delayed the start of construction until 2021. Today, however, Uganda stands closer than ever to monetising its estimated 6.5 billion barrels of oil reserves, 1.4 billion of which are recoverable, bringing the long-awaited vision of first oil within reach.
Despite significant progress on EACOP, Uganda’s oil project faces multiple challenges. Financing pressures have intensified as international lenders, influenced by ESG concerns, withdrew support, forcing shareholders to increase equity commitments and delaying debt disbursements. Environmental and climate scrutiny adds further complexity, with lawsuits in East Africa and France, activist opposition, and concerns over biodiversity and freshwater ecosystems like Murchison Falls National Park affecting both reputation and project costs. Social and land issues persist, including delayed compensation, disputes over land acquisition, and disruptions to local livelihoods, testing governance and community relations. Finally, the project’s long-term profitability remains sensitive to oil price volatility and the global energy transition toward net-zero emissions, which could constrain revenue opportunities.
Uganda’s oil development, while taking nearly two decades compared to Ghana’s Jubilee Field three-year timeline, has prioritised technically complex extraction and long-term national content. Despite shared delays with Mozambique due to global financing constraints, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) has advanced more quickly than Mozambique’s LNG projects. Unlike Kenya, whose Lokichar–Lamu pipeline stalled, Uganda secured committed investors like TotalEnergies and CNOOC, positioning the country as East Africa’s most advanced oil development case.
The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) opens multiple future opportunities for Uganda and the region, including the development of regional energy corridors connecting South Sudan and the DRC, and shared refining capacity with Tanzania. Upstream oil production is expected to stimulate domestic petrochemical industries, such as plastics, fertilisers, lubricants, and synthetic materials. Associated gas from the project could support electricity generation, industrial use, and potential exports. Additionally, TotalEnergies is integrating green infrastructure through carbon offset projects, solar farms, and biodiversity conservation, positioning EACOP as a potential model for lower-carbon oil development in emerging markets.
This highlights a broader global issue: Africa contributes minimally to global emissions, yet receives less than 3% of climate finance while being pressured to leave its resources untapped. Uganda’s pipeline embodies the continent’s assertion for equitable development, fair financing, and the principle that Africa’s growth and resource use should be determined on its own terms rather than dictated externally.
In a world where the Congo Basin, Amazon, and Indonesian forests dominate climate debates, projects like EACOP expose tensions between development and decarbonisation but also highlight Africa’s agency.
The near-completion of EACOP is more than a milestone; it is a national inflexion point. Uganda stands at the crossroads of industrialisation, global scrutiny, and economic transformation. What happens in the next 12 months will determine whether the oil era becomes a launchpad for prosperity or a missed opportunity.
This project is a statement: Uganda intends to develop on its own timeline, with its own strategy, and for its own people.
If managed with transparency, sustainability, and long-term planning, EACOP could be one of Africa’s most consequential economic projects in the 21st century.
