Moving African Oil: Cross-Border Pipeline Soon To Open With First Oil Expected Next June

The inauguration of the 1,447-kilometer East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), stretching from Uganda’s Lake Albert area to Tanzania’s Tanga Port, has been long in the making, but now stands at over 98% complete. 

That is the metric provided to FORBES AFRICA by Uganda National Oil Company’s (UNOC) Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Tony Otoa, who, on the sidelines of Africa Energy Week–which took place in Cape Town from October 12-16–reveals it to be “good to go by the end of the year”.  

Further reports indicate that while the pipeline will be ready to receive crude mid-December, first commercial oil production is expected to be around June 2027. 

EACOP’s arrival will come “despite all of the issues we faced in the beginning with funding and climate change activists stalling the project,” Otoa admits.  

Per an Earth Insight report from May 2026, data showed that 84% of the pipeline network intersects with antelope habitat, 22% with leopard habitat, 17% of it intersects with giraffe habitat and 67% intersects with monkey habitat. 

“Transparency about the EACOP’s full life-cycle impact on interconnected cultures and ecosystems over the next 30 years and beyond can prevent irreversible, long-term harm,” Earth Insight wrote on its website. 

The project attracted $4 billion in capital investment, according to the official EACOP website, making it responsible for what it believes to be “one of the largest ever inward investments into Uganda and Tanzania”. 

Assess the 24-inch-wide carbon steel pipe in person, and you may liken it to generic industrial piping. Learn of its high-tech interior, however, and you’ll understand why there’s a lot more than meets the eye.  

Fiber optic cables and an advanced detection and analytical system are embedded in the cross-border conduit, designed to deliver early detection alerts of potential landslides in sloped areas, as well as, alongside additional benefits, notify of any human intrusions and temperature variations indicating possible pipeline exposure or leaks. 

The oil, described as “waxy” and like “shoe polish” by Otoa, demanded more engineering innovation.  

To melt the commodity for long-distance travel, the entire pipeline will be heated above 50 degrees Celsius as the oil journeys through “six pumping stations…some of these stations will have heating points” for continuous flow, he adds. 

After EACOP’s upcoming inauguration, Otoa confirms administrative intentions to build an “energy hub” in Tanga, equipped with another pipeline to transfer “finished product back into Uganda”. 

Snaking through 10 districts in Uganda and eight regions in Tanzania, it not only presents the nations with an opportunity to improve their and the region’s energy security, but, with a peak capacity of 246,000 barrels per day (bbls/day), its access to international markets via Tanga Port makes it an notable export prospect.