Are You Aware of the Top Oil and Gas Projects to Watch In Tanzania, Uganda, and Mozambique?

The exploration success in East Africa in recent years has been an exciting development, and the resources discovered have the potential for significant benefit to the countries involved.

So far, three, maybe four billion barrels of oil have been discovered onshore in Uganda and Kenya and 200 (or more) Tcfg offshore Tanzania and Mozambique. Suddenly East Africa is on everyone’s radar. Let’s take a the top projects in Tanzania, Uganda, and Mozambique.

Tanzania

EACOP: The EACOP will require a USD 3.5-billion investment for a 1,440-kilometre, 216,000-bopd capacity pipeline to export crude oil from Kabaale in western Uganda to the port of Tanga. The EACOP will be the world’s longest electrically heated crude oil pipeline, allowing the transportation of Uganda’s high-viscosity oil. 

The pipeline will be managed by the EACOP Company, formed by operator TotalEnergies (62%), UNOC (15%), TPDC (15%) and CNOOC (8%).

In May 2022, Bolloré Logistics announced it had been selected as the main logistics contractor services for the EACOP. The project’s materials and equipment will be discharged in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and transported to different locations in Tanzania and Uganda. 

Works involve end-to-end receiving, storage, handling, and transporting hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of cargo, including over 80,000 joints of 18-meter line pipe, multiple heavy-lift operations, break-bulk, and containerized cargo transportation.

Other contractors for the project include China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering for the construction of the pipeline, feeder line, and aboveground installations; the Daqing Oilfield Construction Group for the construction of the terminal and tanks; SNEF-Schneider for electrical instrumentation and control of telecom security; BBN for construction of the jetty; and ISOAF Tanzania for provision of the thermal insulation of the pipeline. Engineering firm Worley is in charge of engineering, procurement, construction management, and commissioning.

Liquefied Natural Gas(LNG).The LNG made big front-page headlines for weeks, and people are still discussing it months after.

The surprising (or unsurprising) thing about the news and development is that the attention it is garnering now makes all the hullabaloo in previous months a child’s play.

When it made newspaper headlines, we were told that;.

Tanzania has reached a successful conclusion, and a Host Government Agreement is now being drafted alongside a production-sharing contract covering the offshore acreage involved.

A final investment decision (FID) is expected in 2025, with the front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase preceding FID.

Construction time is likely to be five to six years, suggesting the large-scale project could come on-stream around 2030

Other projects include ongoing production activities in the Songo Songo and Mnazi Bay gas fields. 

Mozambique.

With substantial natural gas discovery, Mozambique has promising oil and gas projects. The country has had one small field producing gas since 2004. Operated by Sasol, which supplies the vast majority of gas to South Africa. Eni-Exxon Mobil-led 15.2 MTPA will be fully commissioned in 2026. By 2025/2026, Mozambique will have four operational LNG trains

Uganda.

TILENGA: The Tilenga Project, operated by TotalEnergies EP Uganda, covers three production licenses in Contract Area 1 – Jobi-Rii, Gunya, and Ngiri – and three in License Area 2 North: Kasamene-Wahrindi, Kigogole-Ngara, and Nsoga. The total expected production of these fields is 190,000 bopd.

The project will comprise more than 426 wells with more than 160 kilometers of flowlines connecting the fields to the central processing facility (CPF). The CPF will have a capacity of 190,000 bopd, and will be connected via a 24-inch, 95-kilometer pipeline to the Kabaale refinery.

Major contracts were announced after the February 2022 FID announcement, and contractors were mobilized. Tier 1 contractors include McDermott, Sinopec, ZPEB, Vallourec, and Mota-Engil Uganda. Drilling rigs are currently under construction in China and the first is expected to arrive in the second half of 2022 so that drilling can kick start in December 2022.

KINGFISHER: The Kingfisher project is operated by CNOOC. The Kingfisher Development Area (KFDA) covers the Kingfisher field in the area formerly known as Block 3A, located in the Kikuube district, and there are plans for tie-ins of the Mputa-Nzizi-Waraga fields in the Hoima district. The total production expected from these fields will be 40,000 bopd.

CNOOC obtained the production license for the KFDA in September 2013, and the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment certificate in February 2020. The upstream development will comprise 31 wells to be drilled in four well pads, as well as a 40,000-bopd CPF fed by 19 kilometers of flowlines. Midstream-wise, a 46-kilometer pipeline will connect the CPF to Kabaale.

After the announcement of the FID, Uganda’s Excel Construction kicked off the construction phase at the Kingfisher project involving building well pads, access roads, and water intake points.

The Tilenga and Kingfisher developments, whose combined output is expected to reach 230,000 bopd, will be connected via feeder lines to the UNOC-managed Kabaale Industrial Park near Hoima. The Kabaale Industrial Park will comprise an international airport, expected to be operational during 2023; Uganda’s crude export hub, from which EACOP will start; a 60,000-bpd re