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Monday, April 1, 2024
Uganda and Tanzania’s project to build the world’s longest heated crude oil pipeline, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) Coating plant was officially commissioned at Sojo, Nzega – Tabora Region in Tanzania.
Dr. Ruth Nankabirwa, Uganda’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Development and her Tanzanian counterpart Dr. Doto Biteko, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy, commissioned the state-of-the-art facility, which is where all the pipe sections manufactured in China and shipped to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam will undergo thermal insulation and coating.
Coating is an essential part of the EACOP project as the carbon-steel pipe will be sheathed in carefully designed thermal insulation carrying a web of electrical filaments and fiber-optic cables along its entire 1,443 km length so that crude oil from wells in Uganda can reach the Tanzanian coast safely for export.
The heat will allow the Ugandan crude oil to flow efficiently while the fiber will connect leak sensors to a real-time satellite tracking surveillance network that will minimize the risk of any environmental damage.
After coating at the new plant, the pipe sections, each 18 meters in length, will be transported to the different Main Camps and Pipe Yards (MCYP) along the pipeline corridor ready for final assembly in the EACOP trenchline before buried.
As showcased at the coating plant commissioning ceremony, all project pipes will be installed with aluminum raceways, an insulation layer, Polyurethane foam (PUF), an anti-diffusion barrier and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) before distribution to the different manufacturing sites along the 1,443 km line.
Alongside the coating plant commissioning event, the EACOP Company and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) signed three Land use and Ports Agreements. These included the Lease Agreement for land for construction of the Main Storage Terminal, the Marine Facility Agreement, and the Marine Use Agreement.
During the construction phase, a total of 500 personnel on site were employed. During the production phase, 270 workers will be involved in front line site activities, including running the thermal insulation production lines, pipe handling, logistics, maintenance, and inspection.
The coating yard has to date received three batches of pipelines totaling 300 km.
The EACOP Company has the following shareholders: TotalEnergies BV (62%), CNOOC Uganda Limited (8%), TPDC (15%), and the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) (15%).
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