According to a report issued on Wednesday by two environmental NGOs, a contentious project between the National Offshore Oil Corporation of China and the French oil company TotalEnergies may inflict harm that is “unacceptable” (CNOOC).
In order to develop Ugandan oilfields and transport petroleum through a 1,445-kilometer pipeline to Tanga, Tanzania’s Indian Ocean port, the two businesses struck a $10 billion agreement earlier this year.
“In actuality, we’re referring to a pipeline that will be more than 1,400 kilometers long. The project’s proponents also bragged that it would be the world’s longest heated pipeline. Why get hot? The oil in Uganda is too thick, so they need to heat it to liquefy it and make it go, therefore it will be heated to 50 degrees.
The report said the pipeline would emit “up to 34 million tonnes of CO2 per year into the atmosphere — far more than the combined greenhouse gas emissions of Uganda and Tanzania”.
The NGO’s accuse the oil companies of not putting in place adequate measures to safeguard communities and the environment.
“Lake Victoria, but also Lake Albert, where the oil drilling is going to take place, are sources of the Nile, so the impacts go far beyond Uganda and Tanzania. And unfortunately, what the experts who have studied Total’s social and environmental impact studies tell us is that there will definitely be leaks. Moreover, Total has not yet put in place adequate measures to prevent these leaks”, said the activist.
Reacting to the report, TotalEnergies said it would “do everything possible to make it an exemplary project in terms of transparency, shared prosperity, economic and social progress, sustainable development, environmental awareness and respect for human rights”.
The European Parliament has already passed a resolution saying that more than 100,000 people were at risk of being displaced by the pipeline and called for them to be adequately compensated.
