Uganda has picked Tanzania to build a pipeline for its oil instead of Kenya. This was confirmed during a meeting of the 13th Northern Corridor Integration Projects Summit which kicked off in Kampala, in which countries of the East African Community bloc were represented.
Last year, the land locked east African country which discovered oil in some parts of its western region, had said it would pick Kenya for the construction of the pipeline, linking its fields to Kenya oil discoveries in the Lokichar basin in northern Kenya and Lamu in the coastal region. But in March this year, Uganda backtracked on the decision and even suspended on making a final decision after a meeting between President Yoweri Museveni and his Kenyan counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta.
A joint communique released on Saturday said, “The summit agreed that two crude oil pipelines, one from Lokichar to Lamu and another from Hoima to Tanga, will be developed by Kenya and Uganda respectively.” After the summit, Uganda’s president added, “There is no more paralysis on that matter, we are moving.” Uganda has about 6.5 billion barrels of oil in the Lake Albert Basin, while Kenya has 600 million in the Turkana basin. Follow this link to read more on the story.