Cost of Hoima-Tanga Pipeline Hits $5b As Risk Averse Supporters Walk Away

(All Africa, Cape Town, 23 August 2021) The withdrawal by risk averse lenders from the East African Crude Oil Pipeline has seen the cost of the project rise by 30 percent to $5 billion, meaning shareholders will be forced to dig deeper into their coffers to fund it. Shareholders of TotalEnergies raised this question during the annual general meeting in May, and company executives confirmed that increase in cost to $5 billion for a fully completed project, of which $2 billion will be financed through shareholders' equity and $3 billion by external funding.
Last month, the project also suffered another setback after global insurers and export credit agencies, including French multinational AXA, withdrew its support. "The underlying project is not compatible with our climate commitments," AXA wrote in July, while the UK Export Finance also turned down an application for finance, after the UK government ceased financing fossil fuel projects overseas.