Uganda, Tanzania deepen energy ties with $20bn investment potential

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Photo courtesy of State House Uganda.

Uganda and Tanzania are stepping up energy cooperation under a new agreement aimed at expanding regional trade, attracting investment and creating jobs.

President Yoweri Museveni and Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Dar es Salaam on Thursday, covering petroleum infrastructure, industrialisation and cross-border trade.

The leaders also witnessed a separate agreement between the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and Vitol Bahrain E.C. to develop the Tanga Regional Energy Hub.

The hub is expected to make Tanga a regional centre for petroleum storage, refining, logistics, trading and distribution. It will build on the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and complement Uganda's planned 60,000-barrel-per-day Hoima refinery, while strengthening energy security and opening new export opportunities.

Uganda's Energy Minister, Dr Monica Musenero, said the projects should create opportunities beyond simply exporting crude.

"These are not merely infrastructure projects, but strategic investments that will create jobs for our young people, deepen regional trade and strengthen the logistics systems that support our economies,"

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She added:

"We must ensure that we are not simply trading these resources as commodities; we need to extract greater value by developing secondary and tertiary industries, building the knowledge economy and creating high-skilled jobs in engineering, operations, maintenance, laboratory analysis and management."

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Feasibility studies for a refined petroleum products pipeline and storage terminal are expected to be completed later this year, while studies for a proposed Uganda-Tanzania natural gas pipeline are expected by October.

Uganda has also secured $250 million from the World Bank for its section