French oil and gas company TotalEnergies has worked to cultivate a green reputation with climate goals and plans to ramp up renewable power, but a massive east African oil project is casting a shadow over that messaging campaign. Total plans to drill for oil in a richly biodiverse national park in Uganda and build a 900-mile pipeline, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which will flow through sensitive environments to a port in Tanzania for export. Burning that oil could release the equivalent of 34m metric tonnes of carbon dioxide a year into the atmosphere, according to opponents of the project, who point out scientists have said the world needs to drastically decrease, not increase, emissions. Total, France’s second largest company by revenue, rebranded in May 2021, renaming itself TotalEnergies and adopting a rainbow-themed logo. But its work in east Africa has become a rallying point for protesters, including during large climate marches in France last month. Developers first discovered Uganda’s promising oilfields in the early 2000s. The British company Tullow Oil saw success in test wells in 2006. By 2020, Tullow Oil had sold its stakes in the area to Total and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
More Stories
Trends for African Students Seeking Education Abroad
Floods and Landslides Batter Madagascar
Anyone Interested in East Africa’s Dynamic Urbanisation Process should have this Book
Filling the Gap in Locally Grown Techpreneurs
South Africa has Signed an Agreement to Reintroduce Dozens of Cheetahs in India
Enhancing Trust and Security in Digital Africa
Energy Giant Eni Signed an $8 billion Gas Deal with Libya’s State-run National Oil Corporation
Expectations of the Pope’s Visit to Africa
The First Muslim to Helm South Africa’s Biggest Metropolis
The First Africa Vegan Restaurant Week
Lagos Rising: Meet the African Designers Who are Ushering in a New Guard of Fashion
My Life in Food: Idris Elba on African Cuisine and Cooking with his Mum