- China has invited Uganda’s energy minister to Beijing to discuss the East African country’s $5 billion crude oil pipeline.
- Potential Chinese funding is pivotal after Western banks declined to fund the pipeline after pressure from environmentalists.
China has invited Uganda’s energy minister to Beijing to discuss the East African country’s $5 billion crude oil pipeline.
Uganda’s presidency said the development could signal a breakthrough in Uganda’s efforts to woo Chinese financiers to fund the pipeline, which the country requires to start crude production from oilfields discovered in 2006.
Also, potential Chinese funding is pivotal after Western banks declined to fund the pipeline after pressure from environmentalists who said the project would add to global carbon emissions.
“Chinese financial institutions are open to discussions on the project and extended an invitation to Hon. Ruth Nankabirwa, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, to visit China for further discussions,” Museveni’s office said.
Uganda and the Chinese export credit agency SINOSURE have discussed possible funding. Still, multiple deadlines for concluding those talks have passed without a resolution.
The pipeline construction, which will be electrically heated to keep the oil flowing, has started with transporting pipes and other materials to sites in Tanzania and Uganda. A thermal insulation plant to insulate the pipes before they are laid started operations in late March.