- The French energy giant is pushing ahead with its Tilenga drilling project in Uganda and a 1,443-kilometre crude oil pipeline.
- A report from the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) detailed obvious biodiversity loss and found that drilling vibrations chased elephants from the park.
TotalEnergies is pushing ahead with its Tilenga drilling project in Uganda and a 1,443-kilometre crude oil pipeline to transport its output to the Tanzanian coast despite opposition from environmentalists and rights activists.
The $10-billion project involves drilling over 400 oil wells in western Uganda – mainly in Murchison Falls Nature Park, a biodiversity reserve and the country’s largest national park.
TotalEnergies, which is working with Chinese oil company CNOOC, insists it is “a responsible operator” that acts transparently on social and environmental issues surrounding the project.
However, environmentalists say the project is already severely impacting wildlife and the fragile ecosystem in the park, just a year after drilling began and before production gets underway next year.
A report from the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) detailed obvious biodiversity loss and found drilling vibrations chased elephants from the park.
AFIEGO was among NGOs and individual Ugandans who sued TotalEnergies in Paris last year for reparations over alleged rights abuses linked to the project.
AFIEGO conservationist Diana Nabiruma maintained that over 120,000 people had been displaced by the projects in Uganda and Tanzania. She said she was “hoping for justice” in that case and lamented that many had been “unable to replace all or parts of their land.”
In a statement to AFP, TotalEnergies insisted that its projects in East Africa “certainly don’t involve moving hundreds of thousands of people”.
It insisted that many with land along the pipeline route would “be able to use it after the works”, adding that 775 households “will be rehoused in the vicinity and better conditions”.
TotalEnergies insisted that it had carefully examined the potential environmental impacts before launching the project, aiming to rein in and compensate for any biodiversity loss.
It said its contracting partner had been tasked with observing the project’s impact on elephants in particular and had seen “no significant change in elephant movement patterns.”
It said that “warm” and inward-facing lighting had been mounted on the rig to limit light pollution.
Overall, it insisted that the projects aim to provide “a net gain for biodiversity and communities” and “will open up economic opportunities for the local population”.