Uganda-Kenya Crude Oil Pipeline
| Uganda–Kenya Crude Oil Pipeline | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Country |
Uganda Kenya |
| Coordinates | 01°33′00″N 31°09′36″E / 1.55000°N 31.16000°E |
| General direction | West to East |
| From | Hoima, Uganda |
| Passes through | Lokichar, Kenya |
| To | Lamu, Kenya |
| General information | |
| Type | Oil pipeline |
| Partners |
Tullow Oil Total SA CNOOC |
| Commissioned | 2020 (Expected) |
| Technical information | |
| Length | 930 mi (1,500 km) |
The Uganda–Kenya Crude Oil Pipeline (UKCOP) was a proposed pipeline to transport crude oil from Uganda's oil fields in the Northern and Western Regions to the Kenyan port of Lamu on the Indian Ocean. Along the way, the pipeline would have picked up more crude oil from the South Lokichar Basin and other oil fields in northwestern Kenya and delivered it to Lamu for export. South Sudan had also planned to construct a pipeline from its Unity State, linking to the UKCOP as an alternative to its only current oil export route through Port Sudan in its northern neighbor Sudan.
The pipeline was to originate in the oil-rich Kaiso-Tonya area, west of the town of Hoima, in western Uganda and snake its way through the northwestern Kenyan town of Lokicor to end at Lamu, on the Indian Ocean. In August 2015, the presidents of Kenya and Uganda agreed on the proposed route of the pipeline. The route, as proposed by the selected consultant, was 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) long.
Uganda has proven crude oil reserves of 6.5 billion barrels, about 2.2 billion of which is recoverable. The country has the fourth-largest oil reserves in sub-Saharan Africa, behind Nigeria, Angola, and South Sudan. Buseruka Subcounty in Hoima District has been selected to be the location of Uganda's only oil refinery. The country's strategy is to build a refinery that meets the petroleum products needs of Uganda and its regional neighbors and to export the rest of crude oil production via a pipeline to Lamu.
From the beginning, the preference of the Ugandan government had been to start with a small production capacity refinery to prolong the production longevity of its new oil discoveries. Initially, this preference conflicted with the wishes of the three major exploration companies in the country, which preferred rapid harvesting and export of the crude via pipeline to the Kenyan coast. After much recrimination, in April 2013 the government agreed with Tullow Oil of the United Kingdom, Total SA of France, and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to build both the oil refinery and the pipeline.
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Wikipedia