The Lake Albert Development Project was launched in January 2022 in a ceremony held in Kampala, in the presence of President Yoweri Museveni of the Republic of Uganda, Vice-President Philip Mpango of the United Republic of Tanzania, and Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies SE.
Also present were representatives of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the largest offshore oil and gas producer in China, the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC).
Lake Albert Development Project Overview
The Lake Albert Development Project encompasses the Tilenga and Kingfisher upstream oil projects in Uganda, and the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) in Uganda and Tanzania.
The Tilenga project which is operated by TotalEnergies and the Kingfisher project which is operated by CNOOC is expected to start production in the year 2025 and reach a cumulative plateau production of 230,000 barrels per day. The upstream partners are TotalEnergies with a 56.67% stake, CNOOC with 28.33%, and UNOC with 15%.
Production from the oil fields in Uganda will be transported to the port of Tanga in Tanzania via the EACOP cross-border pipeline, whose shareholders are TotalEnergies with 62%stake, UNOC with 15%, TPDC with 15%, and CNOOC with 8%.
The final investment decision
The project was launched just after TotalEnergies and its partner CNOOC had reached a deal with Uganda and Tanzania to invest more than US$ 10bn in the project.
The deal, which is generally the long-awaited Final Investment Decision (FID), was signed by Uganda’s Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa on behalf of the government of Uganda, and General Manager/Country Chairman Philippe Groueix on behalf of the French firm.
