Uganda in talks with Chinese ECA for pipeline funds after Western banks cave in

(Reuters, Kampala, 25 September 2023) Uganda is in advanced talks with Chinese export credit agency SINOSURE to provide credit for its crude oil pipeline after pressure from environmentalists forced some Western banks to recoil from the project, a top official said on Monday. The 1,445-kilometre (898-mile) East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) is planned to help Uganda export its crude from oilfields in the country's west via a port on Tanzania's Indian Ocean coast. It is co-owned by the government of Uganda, France's TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), China's CNOOC (0883.HK) and Tanzania's Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC). The project will cost $5 billion, including the cost of credit and 40% of the money will be raised through debt while the rest will come from equity. Activists contend that the project violates the Equator Principles, a set of standards adopted by these specific lenders for assessing, determining, and managing social and environmental risk for project finance. In addition to Kampala, London, Paris, and New York, the Eacop demonstrations also took place in 18 other cities, including Tokyo, Johannesburg, Frankfurt, Brussels, Sendai, Hoima, Nagoya, Toronto, Fukuoka, Goma, Cape Town, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Vancouver.