Uganda and Tanzania have launched a new energy partnership centered on Tanzania’s Port of Tanga, a deal that could pull in more than $20 billion in investments and lock the region deeper into a refinery-and-pipeline future run from the top down. The memorandum of understanding, signed in Dar es Salaam on Thursday last week by the Uganda National Oil Company, the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation and Vitol Bahrain EC, lays the groundwork for an integrated energy corridor built around multi-product fuel pipelines, oil and gas infrastructure, storage terminals and a proposed refinery.
Who Has the Power
Presidents Yoweri Museveni and Samia Suluhu Hassan witnessed the signing, a reminder that these giant energy decisions are being made in presidential rooms and corporate boardrooms, not by the people who will live with the consequences. The deal marks the latest expansion of energy cooperation between the two neighbours, following the $5 billion East African Crude Oil Pipeline, which is nearing completion. At the center of the plan is the transformation of Tanga into one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest integrated energy hubs, serving as a center for petroleum refining, storage, logistics, trading and distribution.
The proposed refinery is expected to process crude from both the region and international markets, giving East Africa another major refining center. Uganda is on the verge of becoming an oil-producing country, with production at its Kingfisher development expected to begin in a few weeks’ time. Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation Managing Director Mussa Makame said the proposed refinery would complement Uganda’s planned 60,000-barrel-per-day Hoima refinery, with both projects linked through a bi-directional pipeline capable of transporting refined petroleum products according to market demand.
Who Pays for the Corridor
Officials said the plan could signal rivalry with Kenya, after Nigerian tycoon Aliko Dangote had initially proposed Tanga for his refinery on the east coast of Africa but later changed to Lamu in Kenya. The changes also followed a public rebuke by Tanzanian President Samia to Kenyan counterpart William Ruto, who had previously announced Tanga as the site of Dangote refinery without consulting Dodoma. That’s the kind of regional power play that gets dressed up as development: leaders announcing sites, investors shifting plans, and ordinary people left to absorb the fallout while the flags keep waving.
So far, officials are avoiding suggestions of regional rivalry, while saying both sites have important roles in improving energy security for the continent. Energy security for whom, exactly, the article doesn’t say. What it does say is that the machinery of extraction keeps expanding, with the public invited to applaud the scale while the decisions stay tightly controlled.
Uganda’s Energy Minister, Dr Monica Musenero, said the agreement represented a significant step in regional integration and reflected both governments’ commitment to using energy infrastructure to drive industrialisation, trade and job creation. Rather than simply exporting crude oil, she said, Uganda aims to maximize value through downstream industries that create skilled employment and support manufacturing and technology development. She said, “These are not merely infrastructure projects. They are strategic investments that will create jobs for our young people, deepen regional trade and strengthen the logistics systems that support our economies.”
What They’re Calling Development
The infrastructure package also includes a refined petroleum products pipeline between Uganda and Tanzania, expanded storage and distribution facilities and a proposed natural gas pipeline connecting the two countries. Tanzania’s Energy Minister, Deo Ndejembi, described the memorandum of understanding as the next phase of the Uganda-Tanzania energy partnership established through Eacop, shifting the focus from transporting crude to refining, storage, logistics and industrial development. He said the Tanga Regional Energy Hub has the potential to become one of the largest integrated energy infrastructure developments in Sub-Saharan Africa, attracting investments exceeding $20 billion while strengthening East Africa’s energy security and export capacity.
Ndejembi said the proposed bidirectional pipeline will allow refined products to move in either direction depending on demand, opening wider regional markets while reinforcing supply security. He said feasibility and front-end engineering design studies for the refined products pipeline and storage terminal are expected to be completed later this year, while studies for the proposed Uganda-Tanzania natural gas pipeline are scheduled for completion by October.
Beyond petroleum, Dr Musenero said Uganda had secured $250 million from the World Bank to finance its section of the planned Uganda-Tanzania 400kV electricity interconnector, a project expected to strengthen regional power trade through the Eastern Africa Power Pool and improve electricity exchanges with Southern Africa. She said the Hoima refinery and the proposed Tanga hub are complementary projects designed to improve regional energy security and enable East Africa to capture greater value from its petroleum resources.
The new partnership builds on the 1,443-kilometre Eacop, which is nearing completion and has become the flagship cross-border energy project linking Uganda’s oilfields to Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast. Officials said the experience gained from delivering the project has strengthened investor confidence. That confidence, at least, belongs to the investors and the officials who keep assembling these corridors of extraction. The people at the bottom get the pipelines, the storage tanks, the power lines, and the bill.