In the Lake Albert region, in northwestern Uganda, TotalEnergies plans to extract large quantities of oil buried deep in the ground. Work has already started. Backhoe loaders are digging the soil across the savannah. At the top of the embankments of red earth designed to diminish the noise of machines, curious antelopes look on.
Uganda has an estimated oil reserve of 6.5 billion barrels, 1.4 billion of which could be commercially extracted.
The second component - the East African Crude Oil Pipeline - involves the construction of a buried pipeline of more than 1,440 kilometers. It will be the longest heated oil pipeline in the world.There is a problem, though. The oil extraction will take place partly in the Murchison Falls Park, a classified site under the protection of theWith a wide variety of fauna and flora, there are also lions, elephants, giraffes, buffaloes, and antelopes in the area.
"In the park, we should reduce the number of platforms to one, and drill from outside the park," says Bill Powers, the chief engineer of E-tech, something that TotalEnergies claims is technically untenable. Viscous oil must be kept at an elevated temperature in order to circulate. It will cross Uganda in this state from the northwest to the southeast, and follow the shore for the largest lake in Africa - Lake Victoria - for nearly 400 kilometers. The ecosystems in this area are also extremely fragile
Total, however, recognizes that the oil will pass through certain reserves, including a national park in the Burigi-Biharamulo region, in northwestern Tanzania where chimpanzees and elephants live, Richard Senkondo, an environmental activist, says.However, Total once again defends this route. Construction machinery removes vegetation. All that remains is ocher soil and, here and there, a few baobabs.
However"any pipeline under construction is going to leak at some point," Bill Powers, the chief engineer of"That doesn't mean it's going to leak massively. But the idea that it is impossible for there to be oil leaks is wrong." He therefore hopes to obtain authorization to fish between the"pylons" of the pier... Or else, to receive compensation".To carry out its project,Total must use land on which people live and cultivate. In all, more than 100,000 people will be affected by the project, according to the NGOs, some because they lose a simple piece of land, but others because they have to be rehoused.
But he is one of the few to have challenged this decision, because the procedures are long, complicated and expensive for the inhabitants of these poor rural communities that are also poorly educated.
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