[6] Uganda wants to develop its oilfields under the two projects Tilenga, operated by TotalEnergies, and Kingfisher by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).

[7] Because of the large scale displacement of communities and wildlife, the threat to water resources, and contribution to anthropogenic climate change, global environmental groups and the European Union have been protesting its construction and finance.

As of March 2016, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) was to start in Buseruka sub-county, Hoima District, at the Lake Albert (Africa) basin in Uganda's Western Region.

It would travel along the Albertine Rift in a general south-easterly direction to pass through Rakai District in Uganda, Bukoba in Tanzania, loop around the southern shores of Lake Victoria, continue through Shinyanga and Singida, to end on the Chongoleani peninsula near the Port of Tanga, for export[10] a distance of approximately 1,410 kilometres (880 mi).

Buried pipelines would deliver the raw material to an oil treatment plant built in Kasenyi, to separate and treat the fluids.

[25] In March 2016, the Daily Monitor newspaper reported that Total E&P was prepared to spend US$4 billion (UGX:13 trillion) to fund EACOP construction.

[11] In July 2016, following meetings between delegations led by the oil ministers of Tanzania and Uganda, held in Hoima, it was announced that construction of the 1,443 kilometres (897 mi) pipeline would begin in January 2017,[26] and completion was planned for 2020.

[1] In August 2017, the plan was to raise 70 percent of $3.5b financing capital needed from international lenders and 30 percent through Total, the Anglo-Irish Tullow and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (Cnooc), the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation and Uganda National Oil Company; the final investment decision was expected at the end of 2017.

[39] In February 2022, Museveni and the Vice President of Tanzania Philip Mpango, the Executive Chairman/CEO of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, the president of CNOOC Uganda Limited, Chen Zhuobiao; Ugandan cabinet ministers, oil technocrats from Uganda and Tanzania and other invited guests gathered at Kololo in Kampala, to witness the signing of the final investment decision by TotalEnergies and CNOOC.

[41] In May 2023, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group said it was not financing the pipeline, as was Standard Chartered,[42] joining 24 banks who have distanced themselves from the project.

[45] In November 2023, The Independent Uganda reported that the first 100 kilometres (62 mi) of pipe was ready for shipment from the factory in China to Tanzania.

[53] In February 2023, Ugandan, Tanzanian and an US organisation filed a complaint against the US insurance broker Marsh with the OECD about violating "the guidelines governing the actions of multinational corporations with regard to respect for human rights and the environment".

[8] As of 2020, civil society organizations have petitioned funding agencies not to support the project, citing potential social and environmental harm that the pipeline will cause.

Campaigners argue that, as the world's longest heated oil pipeline which will run through many populated areas, it will contribute to poor social outcomes for those displaced.

[8] Critics of the project point to the negative hydrological impact on the surface and groundwater resources of Lake Turkana and also to the fact that the pipeline will add another major source of oil to global markets and thereby contribute to anthropogenic climate change.

[67][68] Critics of the project in Uganda have been met with intimidation, shutdown of their organization (Africa Institute for Energy Governance) and arrests as early as October 2021.

[69] In September 2022, the European Parliament had passed a resolution condemning the EACOP project, calling for "the end of the extractive activities in protected and sensitive ecosystems, including the shores of Lake Albert".