Ugandan Farmers to Challenge $5.6 Billion Pipeline in UK Lawsuit

A group of Ugandan farmers will on Tuesday file a lawsuit in the UK High Court against the East African nation’s $5.6 billion crude pipeline, potentially delaying long-awaited exports due to begin later this year.

The petition says the 1,450-kilometer (900-mile) East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline will impact water sources, wildlife and biodiversity, heightening concerns over climate change, according to an emailed statement issued by the claimants’ lawyers.

The four farmers are asking the British court to apply Ugandan climate, environmental and constitutional law to EACOP Ltd., the UK-registered firm developing, building and operating the pipeline. The company is jointly owned by TotalEnergies SE, Cnooc Ltd. and the state-owned oil companies of Uganda and Tanzania.

“The case seeks remedies that could go to the heart of the project’s commercial viability, including an injunction to stop oil being transported through the pipeline, as well as compensation and other legal relief under Ugandan law,” they said in a petition through law firm Leigh Day.

The challenge is the latest against the project that on completion will become the world’s longest heated pipeline linking oil fields in Uganda to an Indian ocean port in neighboring Tanzania. It could generate more than 370 million tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions over its lifetime, according to the petition.

EACOP has also received backlash from Ugandan environmental activists and European lawmakers, who argue it threatens fragile ecosystems and will increase emissions at a time when the world needs to reduce fossil fuel use. Their campaign has already persuaded several banks and insurers to withhold support for the pipeline.

The small-holder farmers are not bringing the case in Uganda as they argue they wouldn’t be able to get justice, according to the statement.

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