Een meer dan 1.400 km lange oliepijpleiding in Oost-Afrika een gevaar voor meer dan 30 miljoen mensen, een enorm aantal dieren en kwetsbare natuur

De wereld zucht onder de gevolgen van de klimaatverandering: -enorm grote bosbranden tot aan de poolcirkel, -steeds heviger wordend natuurgeweld als orkanen, -het afsmelten van de poolkappen en gletsjers en -een opwarming van de oceanen die het volledige ecosysteem van die oceanen in gevaar brengt, dus niet alleen het afsterven van koraalriffen, maar ook het verdwijnen van uiterst kleine diersoorten (kril), waarvan niet alleen de gewone vissoorten afhankelijk zijn, maar ook walvissen...... (en vergeet daarbij niet dat de gewone vissoorten zelf al in gevaar komen door enorme overbevissing)

Het is nu meer dan voldoende bewezen dat de mens de oorzaak is van deze klimaatverandering en dan m.n. de verbranding van fossiele brandstoffen door de mens..... De oliegiganten Exxon en Shell wisten dit zelfs uit eigen diepgravend onderzoek en dat al in respectievelijk de 70er en 80er jaren van de vorige eeuw (waarna ze de resultaten van dat onderzoek wegmoffelden in diepe kluizen en wetenschappers inhuurden om het tegendeel te beweren....)

Hoe is het dan toch mogelijk dat de banken nog steeds investeren in olie- en gaswinning, ja zelfs in de winning van steenkool door investeringen in mijnbouw en overslaghavens..... Nu blijkt dat banken alweer een enorm lange (verwarmde) oliepijpleiding willen financieren*, de East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) in Oost Afrika, een pijpleiding van Oeganda naar Tanzania en dat mede door (kwetsbare) natuurgebieden...... 

Eén ding is zeker als zo'n pijpleiding in gebruik wordt genomen >> binnen de kortste keren treden lekken op, lekken die enorme gebieden voor jaren, ja zelfs tientallen jaren kunnen vervuilen en daarbij de bestaande natuur vernietigen, inclusief de kleinere diersoorten en insecten die daar leven, terwijl daarnaast oppervlaktewater en grondwater zwaar worden vervuild....... 

Dan te bedenken dat een deel van deze pijpleiding door rivieren en andere stromen richting Lake Victoria gaat, waarbij een klein deel zelfs door dat meer zal lopen, een meer waarvan 30 miljoen mensen afhankelijk zijn wat betreft water- en voedselvoorziening........ Voorts blijkt dat het gebied rond Lake Victoria seismisch actief is, waardoor een aardbeving de pijpleiding op zeker deels zal vernielen, met alle al genoemde gevolgen van dien......

Lees het volgende relaas en teken de petitie ajb, banken moeten eindelijk eens kiezen voor het leven en voortsbestaan van de wereld zoals wij die kennen, niet voor het geld en daarbij vernietiging van de aarde en de dood van grote aantallen diersoorten, om over de gevolgen voor bewoners van vervuilde gebieden nog maar te zwijgen....... (en dan te bedenken dat er jaarlijks wereldwijd 8,8 mensen jaren eerder sterven door langdurige blootstelling aan luchtvervuiling veroorzaakt door uitstoot van fabrieken, auto's, vliegtuigen en schepen)

Stop the East African Crude Oil Pipeline

Inclusive Development International is campaigning with a broad coalition of local, regional and international organizations to stop the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.

The proposed 1,445-kilometer pipeline from Hoima, Uganda to the port of Tanga in Tanzania would be the longest heated pipeline in the world.  It threatens to enable the opening up of critical ecosystems, including Murchison Falls National Park, to oil extraction.  It would cause large-scale displacement of communities and pose grave risks to protected environments, water sources and wetlands in both Uganda and Tanzania, including the Lake Victoria basin, which millions of people rely upon for drinking water and food production.  And it would enable the extraction and transport of oil from northern Uganda and potentially DRC that would generate over 34 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.

Tell Standard Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation: Don’t finance the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline!

On March 20, 2020 more than 100 civil society organizations wrote to the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwumi Adesina urging the bank not to fund this dangerous project but instead help meet Africa’s energy needs in a clean and rights-compatible manner. Read the letter here. The African Development Bank responded to the letter, making a public commitment that it would not fund the pipeline.

About the East African Crude Oil Pipeline

Approximately 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil have been discovered in the Albertine Graben, the basin of Lake Albert, on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Extraction will take place at two oil fields: the Kingfisher field, operated by China National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd (CNOOC Ltd), and the Tilenga field, operated by Total S.A.

Once extracted, the oil will be partly refined in Uganda to supply the local market and partly exported to the international market via the East African Crude Oil Export Pipeline (EACOP). The 1,445-kilometer pipeline will transport crude oil south from Uganda for export at the Port of Tanga in Tanzania.

The EACOP pipeline will carry 216,000 barrels of crude oil per day (10.9 million metric tons per year) at ‘plateau production’ according to the project’s website. According to calculations based on the specific fuel density of the EACOP blend, the emissions from the burning of this fuel would be at least 34.3 million metric tons of CO2-equivalent (CO2e) per year.  
These emissions will dwarf the current annual emissions of its two host countries combined, and will in fact be roughly equivalent to the carbon emissions of Denmark.

In addition to contributing to the climate crisis, the project poses serious environmental and social risks to protected wildlife areas, water sources and communities throughout Uganda and Tanzania.

Extraction at the oil fields in Albertine Graben will also jeopardize the Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP), which is important for tourism as Uganda’s second most visited national park. In addition, the mangroves at the coast of Tanzania which the pipeline puts at risk support approximately 150,000 people, in addition to the ecological services they provide. The 300 permanent jobs the pipeline is expected to create will not compensate for the loss of jobs in agriculture, tourism and mangroves.

Nearly a third of the planned pipeline (460 kilometers) will be constructed in the basin of Africa’s largest lake, Lake Victoria. More than 30 million people depend on Lake Victoria for water and food production. The pipeline also crosses several rivers and streams that flow into the lake, including the Kagera River.  Possible spills from the pipeline due to bad maintenance, accidents, third-party interference or natural disasters, risk fresh water pollution and degradation in this area – a likelihood that is even greater since the area around Lake Victoria is an active seismic area.

The pipeline route also traverses a number of heavily populated districts in both Uganda and Tanzania, and large-scale land acquisition and resettlement is expected as a result of pipeline construction and associated oil extraction and infrastructure, on both a temporary and permanent basis. Between 9,500 and 14,500 farms are estimated to be affected by construction in Tanzania alone.

As a result of these grave risks, the project is facing significant local community and civil society resistance.

Brief History

The exploration company Tullow Oil discovered oil in Uganda’s Albertine Graben in 2006. The Government of Uganda issued production licenses for the oil fields in August 2016. 
Small amounts of oil were extracted during the exploration phase, but full-scale commercial production has not yet begun. Commercial production was originally expected to begin in 2020, but has been pushed back to 2021 due to delays in finalizing the financing structure.

The pipeline was originally under development by the three oil companies; Tullow, Total, and CNOOC; in partnership with the Ugandan and Tanzanian state-owned oil companies. Stanbic Bank Uganda and Sumitomo Mitsui (SMBC) of Japan are the project’s financial advisors. 

Debt financing for the pipeline is expected to amount to approximately USD 2.5 billion. In June 2020, after suffering major financial losses, Tullow completely divested its shares in the project to Total and CNOOC.  But CNOOC chose not to exercise its right to buy its portion, which would have created a true 50/50 joint venture with Total. Tullow ultimately agreed to transfer its entire interests in the proposed East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) System to Total Uganda, making Total the majority owner of the project.

The Inter-governmental Agreement between Uganda and Tanzania was signed in May 2017, securing the pipeline route.

The U.S. firm Gulf Interstate Engineers completed the front-end engineering design (FEED) for the pipeline in early 2018 and shared the findings at workshops with Ugandan and Tanzanian stakeholders.  An Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) was provided to the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) in January 2019.

Work on the pipeline has been suspended in August 2019 when Tullow’s previous efforts to sell its stake in the project collapsed. Ugandan officials have said they  expect oil extraction to begin in 2023.

Lets Stop the Money Pipeline

Despite the catastrophic ecological and human rights risks of EACOP, Standard Bank, Africa’s biggest lender, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) of Japan are reportedly seeking to raise $2.5 billion in financing for the project.

Please sign this petition calling on the banks not to finance this project and instead focus its finance on green projects which will positively transform East Africa’s economies for future generations.

News and Updates

Breaking:  (June 25, 2020) – 350.org delivered a petition to Standard Bank at its Annual General Meeting representing the over 23,000 people who have signed on opposing the bank’s plans to fund the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.

A Major Oil Pipeline Project Strikes Deep at the Heart of Africa – Yale E360, May 21, 2020

AfDB Says No Plans to Fund Uganda-Tanzania pipeline — The East African, April 11, 2020

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* In het artikel wordt gesproken over de langste oliepijpleiding ooit, echter dat is niet waar., zo is de Dacota Access Pipeline (DAPL) meer dan 1.800 kilometer lang en ook deze pijleiding werd en wordt door banken gefinancierd........

Heb ook het label TMX toegevoegd, een oliepijpleiding dwars door natuurgebieden en heilige gebieden van de oorsprankelijke beovlking van wat nu Canada heet.... Het label Keystone XL staat als DAPL voor dergelijke oliepijpleidingen in de VS.