The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) has reached 92.7% overall completion, bringing Uganda and Tanzania closer to the moment when years of investment in East Africa’s oil infrastructure begin translating into actual exports.
The latest milestone came during a visit by Uganda’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Dr Monica Musenero Masanza, to Pump Station 1 in Hoima on August 31. The facility is the starting point of the 1,443-kilometre pipeline, which will transport crude from Uganda’s Tilenga and Kingfisher fields to the Chongoleani export terminal near Tanzania’s Port of Tanga.
But the significance of the 92.7% figure is bigger than construction progress alone.
From a Pipeline Project to an Export System
When we first covered the legal challenge brought by Ugandan farmers against EACOP, the project was still being viewed largely through the lens of whether it would ever reach operation. That legal scrutiny has not disappeared; the UK High Court case remains a significant challenge to the project.
What has changed is the physical reality on the ground.
EACOP now has more than 12,000 direct jobs associated with the project, including over 4,000 Ugandans, while indirect employment has exceeded 20,000. The company says it is also committed to planting 500,000 indigenous trees as part of environmental restoration along the corridor.
At Pump Station 1, crude from the upstream developments will be received, measured, heated and pumped into the export system. The pipeline's six pump stations and two pressure-reduction stations are designed to move Uganda's waxy crude across the long route to the Tanzanian coast.
And that is where our Pearl Sweet story becomes important.
Earlier this month, Uganda formally named its export crude Pearl Sweet and appointed global trader Vitol to market it, with the country targeting early 2027 exports. Uganda expects Tilenga and Kingfisher to eventually produce as much as 230,000 barrels per day.
In other words, EACOP is no longer being built for an abstract future. There is now a crude grade, a producer, a marketer, an export destination and an increasingly complete route connecting them.
And Tanga Is Becoming More Than an Exit Point
In August, Uganda, Tanzania and Vitol signed an agreement around the proposed Tanga Regional Energy Hub, with potential investment exceeding $20 billion. The ambition is to develop Tanga beyond an export point into a wider centre for petroleum storage, refining, logistics, trading and distribution.
That means EACOP could ultimately become the foundation for something much larger than a crude export pipeline.
The emerging picture is of an integrated East African energy corridor: oil production in Uganda, EACOP transporting the crude, Tanga handling exports and potentially becoming an energy hub, and Vitol connecting the region to international markets.
Yet the closer that system gets to operation, the more important the questions around environmental protection, local economic benefits and community concerns become. The same project now approaching completion is also the subject of an ongoing legal challenge from affected Ugandan farmers.
At 92.7%, EACOP is approaching the point where the conversation changes.
It is no longer simply about whether the pipeline will be built, It is about what East Africa will do with the energy corridor once it is.
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