{"id":21523,"date":"2026-01-13T20:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T20:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/21523\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T20:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T20:56:12","slug":"nankabirwa-inspects-eacop-oil-projects-as-uganda-prepares-for-first-oil-in-july-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/21523\/","title":{"rendered":"Nankabirwa Inspects EACOP, Oil Projects as Uganda Prepares for First Oil in July 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Hon. Dr Ruth Nankabirwa, has undertaken a comprehensive inspection tour of Uganda\u2019s key oil and gas infrastructure projects, as the country intensifies preparations for the first oil expected in July 2026.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued during the tour, Dr Nankabirwa said she visited critical project sites, including the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), Kingfisher and Tilenga oil fields, the planned refinery, Kabalega International Airport, and the Kabale Industrial Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am currently on a tour of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), Kingfisher, Tilenga, Refinery, Kabalega International Airport, and Kabale Industrial Park project sites as part of ongoing preparations for Uganda\u2019s first oil in July 2026,\u201d Nankabirwa said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A key highlight of the visit was Pump Station One (PS1), the starting point of the EACOP pipeline. The facility collects crude oil from the Kingfisher and Tilenga Central Processing Facilities (CPF) and serves as a major power hub for upstream operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cPS1 collects crude oil production from Kingfisher and Tilenga CPF and serves as a power hub linking upstream shippers to EACOP and the UETCL national grid,\u201d she explained. \u201cIt will enable export of surplus power to the national grid and import power when upstream operations are in deficit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Nankabirwa described PS1 as a strategic asset that underscores the scale, technical sophistication, and regional importance of the EACOP project.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Officials from EACOP Ltd reported that overall progress on the pipeline project has reached 79 percent. During the minister\u2019s site visit, EACOP engineers provided detailed updates on construction milestones at PS1.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Pump Station 1, concrete works are at 75 percent, steel erection at 71 percent, and piping and welding at 55 percent, bringing the overall site completion to about 70 percent,\u201d EACOP said, noting that around 700 workers are currently deployed at the site.<\/p>\n

Across the entire pipeline, construction is advancing rapidly. \u201cPipeline construction stands at 62 percent, with over 1,400 kilometres welded and about 500 kilometres fully buried and backfilled,\u201d EACOP stated.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Construction activities are currently at peak levels, with approximately 3,500 workers in Uganda and a total workforce of about 12,000 personnel across Uganda and Tanzania.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis level of activity is expected to continue through Quarter One and early Quarter Two of 2026, before transitioning into commissioning and start-up activities,\u201d the company added.<\/p>\n

The inspection tour, which included the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Eng. Irene Bateebe, comes as government and project developers push to ensure all infrastructure is completed on schedule, positioning Uganda for a smooth transition into oil production and export.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Hon. Dr Ruth Nankabirwa, has undertaken a comprehensive inspection tour of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[13412,3734,13413,13414,187,188,190,153],"class_list":{"0":"post-21523","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uganda","8":"tag-dr-ruth-nankabirwa","9":"tag-eacop","10":"tag-first-oil","11":"tag-oil-projects","12":"tag-softpower","13":"tag-softpower-news","14":"tag-top-uganda-news","15":"tag-uganda"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}