Fuente: The East African

Fifteen years after discovering commercially-viable crude oil deposits, Uganda begins its final journey to production with the signing on Sunday of a landmark deal with Tanzania and French oil company Total.

The deal, which is expected to unlock upwards of $15 billion in investments, was signed in Kampala. President Yoweri Museveni led the Uganda delegation while Total chairman and chief executive Patrick Pouyanne led the French company’s team, The EastAfrican has learnt.

A key element of the project is the crude oil export pipeline to run from Uganda to the Indian Ocean at Tanga and Tanzania President Samia Suluhu travelled to Kampala in her first foreign trip as head of state to sign the tripartite agreement on behalf of her country.

Signing of the deal was earlier scheduled for March 22 in Kampala but was postponed following the death of Tanzania's President John Pombe Magufuli, who was a key driving force behind the pipeline.

A deal for the $3.5 billion East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) is a strategic win for Tanzania which will earn $12.7 off each barrel of oil transported through it.