[ti:Oil Drilling Begins at Chinese-run Field in Uganda]
[al:As It Is]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2023-02-05]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]Drilling has begun at a Chinese-operated oil field in Uganda. 
[00:07.09]Officials in the East African nation say they expect oil production to begin by 2025.
[00:17.49]A spokesman for Uganda's ministry of energy and mineral development, Solomon Muyita, spoke to The Associated Press about the drilling operation. 
[00:31.48]He said the start of drilling at the Kingfisher oil field in the Kikuube district of western Uganda was a big step toward industrial oil production.
[00:45.35]The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) operates the field.
[00:53.95]The project has been strongly criticized by environmental groups.
[01:00.36]Uganda is estimated to have recoverable oil reserves of at least 1.4 billion barrels.
[01:10.27]Muyita also said construction would begin this year on the 1,443-kilometer East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline. 
[01:23.45]That project is being developed jointly by CNOOC and the French energy company TotalEnergies.
[01:32.70]The pipeline will run between Uganda and the Indian Ocean port of Tanga in Tanzania.
[01:42.07]Officials have described the project as the world's longest heated oil pipeline.
[01:49.62]It should also be completed by 2025, Muyita said.
[01:55.39]Climate activists have raised concerns about the effects of the pipeline on local communities and the environment.
[02:05.78]Last year, Uganda's president was angered by a resolution by the European Parliament that urged the international community to put "maximum pressure" on Ugandan and Tanzanian officials over the project.
[02:25.01]The resolution said the pipeline would threaten environments "in protected and sensitive ecosystems, including the shores of Lake Albert."
[02:37.78]The EU parliament also warned that the pipeline project placed 100,000 people "at imminent risk" of displacement, without providing effective guarantees of payment, known as compensation.
[02:56.92]Ugandan officials consider the pipeline important to economic development.
[03:04.35]They argue that oil wealth can lift millions of people out of poverty.
[03:11.37]Uganda's National Environmental Management Authority has sought to ease environmental concerns.
[03:21.39]And Muyita told the AP that thousands of families displaced by the project have already been compensated.
[03:31.86]I'm Bryan Lynn.