EACOP together with its tier One Contractor for Line Pipe- Chu Kong Petroleum and
Natural Gas Steel Pipe Holdings Limited (PCK) through their National Content
implementing partner in Uganda, Avanti Energy Services Limited (Avanti ESL) have
carried out orbital welding trainings at Uganda Industrial Research Institute.
The trainings are part of Panyu Chu Kong (PCK) Steel Pipe Co.Ltd’s commitments to
National Content and more specifically technology transfer.
The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) Ltd. is a project company set up to develop,
build and operate a pipeline system which will transport crude oil from Kabaale in Uganda
to the port of Tanga in Tanzania. Given the nature of the project, there are several national
and international contractors and suppliers who will support different aspects/scopes on
the construction of the pipeline and others who will also supply bespoke equipment for
the pipeline.
Orbital welding is a specialized, automated welding technique where a welding torch or
electrode rotates mechanically around a stationary workpiece (like a pipe or tube) to
create a continuous, high-quality weld. The welding parameters are preset, and these
settings can be stored and reused, making this a highly repeatable and more precise
process. This is the nature of welding that will also be adopted on the EACOP pipeline.
There are no orbital welding machines in Uganda for training and most welder
certifications focus on manual welding techniques. Having identified this gap and as part
of their commitment to National Content, PCK/Avanti brought a ‘Pipeline All-Position
Automatic Welding Machine’ (Model BH-PAW-150) in-country and expert trainer from
Canada to deliver a three-week training on the same machine. The training was attended
by twenty (20) Technicians and Trainers at Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI)
to ensure the cascading down of knowledge transfer and expertise. The training involved
classroom sessions, with most of the sessions being practical sessions.
In addition to the training sessions at UIRI, PCK/AVANTI have onboarded two graduate
trainees to gain work experience at PCK’s manufacturing plant in China and have carried
out trainings in HSE and pipeline maintenance for Small Medium-sized Enterprises
(SMEs) and local institutions as part of the Industry Enhancement (IEC) and Train the
Trainer (TtT) initiatives.
The East African Crude Oil Pipeline is a 1,443km crude oil export infrastructure that will
transport Uganda’s crude oil from Kabaale – Hoima in Uganda to the Chongoleani
peninsula near Tanga in Tanzania for export to the international market. This major export
system includes 1,443 km (296 km in Uganda and 1147km in Tanzania) of insulated and
buried 24” inch pipeline, 6 pumping stations, two pressure reduction stations and a marine
export terminal in Tanzania.
Following the Final Investment Decision (FID) that was taken on the 1st of February 2022,
East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) Ltd. on 15th February concluded the formation
of the company that will construct and operate the pipeline.
EACOP Ltd. is a special purpose company, governed by its Shareholders Agreement in
which TotalEnergies (62%), Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC – 15%), Tanzania
Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC – 15%) and CNOOC (8%) are shareholders.