President Museveni and his Tanzanian counterpart, Samia Suluhu Hassan, have launched a new chapter in Uganda-Tanzania energy cooperation, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which seeks to accelerate regional petroleum infrastructure, industrialisation and cross-border trade.
The agreement, which was signed in Dar es Salaam on Thursday, marks the beginning of a broader journey towards building a competitive regional energy market capable of creating jobs, attracting investment and positioning East Africa as a global energy player, a statement released by State House, Kampala, said.
It added that both leaders later witnessed the signing of an MoU between the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and Vitol Bahrain E.C to jointly develop the Tanga Regional Energy Hub.
The partnership builds on the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), and is expected to transform Tanga into a regional hub for petroleum storage, refining, logistics, trading, distribution, and complement Uganda’s oil and gas projects, including the Hoima refinery, while enhancing energy security, expanding export opportunities and strengthening trade across East and Central Africa.
Uganda’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Dr Monica Musenero, described the agreement as ‘a powerful demonstration of regional cooperation and a reflection of the long-held vision of the two Presidents to build a united and prosperous Africa’, and welcomed Vitol Bahrain into the partnership.
She expressed optimism that the collaboration between Kampala, Dar es Salaam, and the private sector will accelerate regional economic transformation.
‘These are not merely infrastructure projects, but strategic investments that will create jobs for our young people, deepen regional trade and strengthen the logistics systems that support our economies,’ Minister Musenero was quoted in the statement.
Adding: ‘We must ensure that we are not simply trading these resources as commodities; we need to extract greater value by developing secondary and tertiary industries, building the knowledge economy and creating high-skilled jobs in engineering, operations, maintenance, laboratory analysis and management.’
Dr Musenero further revealed that feasibility and front-end engineering design studies for the proposed refined petroleum products pipeline and storage terminal are progressing well and are expected to be completed later this year, and that feasibility studies for the proposed natural gas pipeline linking Uganda and Tanzania are expected to be concluded by October.
Beyond petroleum, she highlighted progress on the planned Uganda-Tanzania 400kV electricity interconnector, noting that Uganda concluded negotiations with the World Bank in March before securing $250m in financing in June for its section of the project.
The transmission line, Dr Musenero said, will increase electricity exchange between both countries, strengthen the Eastern African power pool and create new opportunities for electricity trade with Southern Africa.
She reaffirmed that Uganda’s planned 60,000-barrel-per-day Hoima refinery remains central to the country’s industrialisation agenda, emphasising that it complements rather than competes with the Tanga Regional Energy Hub.
‘The hub is complementary. Together, these projects will strengthen regional energy security while enabling East Africa to retain more value from its petroleum resources,’ she said, adding that the successful implementation of EACOP has demonstrated Uganda and Tanzania’s ability to deliver complex cross-border projects, boost investor confidence and pave the way for future regional investments.
The EACOP has since surpassed 90 per cent construction completion, while the planned 60,000-barrel-per-day refinery is expected to support Uganda’s energy security, while allowing the country to retain more value from its crude oil, and will be supported by a multi-products pipeline and a petroleum products storage terminal.
Her Tanzanian counterpart, Mr Deo Ndejembi, said the agreement marks the beginning of a new era of regional energy integration. ‘The story we celebrate today did not begin in 2026. It began several years ago when Tanzania and Uganda made the courageous decision to deepen cooperation in the petroleum sector.’
According to Mr Ndejembi, while EACOP laid the foundation for regional collaboration, the Tanga Regional Energy Hub represents the next phase by creating value through refining, petroleum storage, logistics, trading and industrialisation.
‘EACOP transports molecules, the Tanga Regional Energy Hub transforms those molecules into prosperity,’ he said, adding that the proposed hub has the potential to attract investments exceeding US$20 billion, making it one of the largest integrated energy infrastructure developments ever undertaken in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Mr Ndejembi further stressed that the two projects are strategically complementary, noting that Uganda’s decision to develop the Hoima refinery reflects its sovereign objective of maximising value from its petroleum resources through domestic refining and industrial development, which is fully supported by Tanzania.
The proposed bidirectional multi-product pipeline linking Uganda and Tanzania will allow refined petroleum products to move efficiently in either direction according to market demand, opening wider export opportunities for Uganda while strengthening energy security across East Africa.