Uganda oil project: Drilling underway amid legal challenge in France
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Uganda's Lake Albert region - home to the future of big oil in the country.
00:04 By the first half of 2025, Uganda could be producing as many as 130,000 barrels a day.
00:12 This is the Kingfisher drilling project, operated by China's National Offshore Oil Corporation.
00:18 Alongside it is the Telenga project, managed by French energy major Total Energies.
00:24 Uganda is landlocked, so to export that oil in the future,
00:28 the construction of a pipeline is scheduled for November.
00:32 "We have taken deliberate steps to ensure that the oil and gas projects
00:36 are developed sustainably. We are also ensuring that the livelihoods of the communities
00:42 surrounding these operations are improved alongside the development of the projects."
00:48 The Telenga project alone, as well as the construction of the pipeline,
00:51 covers over 6,000 hectares of land. That means 764 homes have been moved
00:58 and more than 18,000 people are affected, including homeowners and farmers.
01:02 Total Energies also says 11,000 direct jobs have been created in the region
01:08 as a result of construction.
01:10 That's not been enough to quell the concerns of environmental groups though.
01:14 On Tuesday, they sued Total Energies for failing to protect people and the environment.
01:18 "Total's project has impoverished thousands of people. In other words,
01:23 it has expropriated people who made a living from their land."
01:27 Environmental organisations were dismissed by a French court back in 2019.