Afreximbank has approved $200 million for the financing of an oil pipeline to export Uganda’s crude saying, it is also willing to finance the construction of a refinery in the east African country.
The Uganda presidency said this in a press release issued on Monday.
Though the $3.5 billion pipeline will run from landlocked Uganda’s oilfields in the country’s west to a port on Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast it has drawn criticism from environmentalists and European Union lawmakers.
France’s Total Energies, the lead developer of the pipeline, is facing mounting pressure to drop the project or re-route it because of protests over potential harm to the environment and livelihoods of local communities.
But the Cairo-based lender’s Chief Executive Officer Benedict Oramah said Afreximbank would contribute towards the pipeline’s financing in a meeting with Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni.
Also, Oramah added that the presidency confirmed that Afreximbank was “willing and considering financing” an oil refinery in the country.
