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Another milestone has been achieved as Uganda and Tanzania embark on the construction of the world’s longest heated oil pipeline. Just recently, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) Coating Plant was officially commissioned in Tanzania at the Tabora region.
According to the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development of Uganda, Dr. Ruth Nankabirwa and her Tanzanian counterpart Dr. Doto Biteko commissioned this state of the art plant facility that will serve the purpose of thermal insulation and coating of all the pipes that will be acquired from China.
“Today’s commissioning of this plant is a true testament that the project is on course and at a point of no return,” Mrs Nankabirwa said. As showcased at the coating plant commissioning ceremony, all project pipes will be installed with aluminium raceways, an insulation layer, Polyurethane foam (PUF), an anti-diffusion barrier and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) before distribution to the different manufacturing sites along the 1443 km line.
Significance of the EACOP Coating Plant
Coating is a very important aspect of the EACOP since the Carbon-steel pipes will have been sheathed in carefully designed thermal insulation possessing a web of electrical filaments and also fibre optic cables that will be present in the entire oil pipeline that will serve the purpose of ensuring that crude oil from wells that are based in Uganda can be able to reach the coast of Tanzania safely before being exported.
The heat will serve the purpose allowing the crude oil from Uganda to efficiently flow whilst the fiber will serve the purpose of connecting leak sensors to a real-time satellite tracking surveillance network that will serve to cut the risk of any environmental damage that could be incurred.
Once the pipes are coated at the new plant, the pipe sections each with a length of 18 meters will then be transported to the various Main Camps and Pipe yards (MYCP) along the EACOP corridor for the final assembly in the pipeline trench line before being buried in the ground.
The Developers of EACOP
The EACOP Company has the following shareholders: TotalEnergies BV (62%), CNOOC Uganda Limited (8%), TPDC (15%), and the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) (15%).. EACOP Company was commended by Dr. Nankabirwa for delivering this latest key facility of the project since the announcement of the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the upstream oil projects of Uganda inclusive of the EACOP that was formed in the month of February of the year 2022.
Alongside the coating plant commissioning event, the EACOP Company and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) signed three Land use and Ports Agreements. These included the Lease Agreement for land for construction of the Main Storage Terminal, the Marine Facility Agreement, and the Marine Use Agreement. Mr Dozith Abeinomugisha, the Director Midstream at the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU), said the Authority is undertaking joint monitoring and regulation with its counterpart, Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA), Tanzania to ensure that aspects relating to all the licences given to the EACOP company are adhered to. |
