Eacop financing swings to China as its firms hog deals
The Chinese appear to be taking over the financing of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline project, which has been hit by funding hitches as major lenders cave in to pressure from climate activists to abandon it. PHOTO | SHUTTERSTOCK
The Chinese appear to be taking over the financing of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) project, which has been hit by funding hitches as major lenders cave in to pressure from climate activists to abandon it.
A week ago, Standard Chartered Bank, one of the potential financiers, withdrew from the $5 billion project after activists said it could generate seven times more carbon emissions per year than the rest of the country. A StanChart spokesman was quoted as saying the lender “isn’t involved in the financing” of the 1,443km crude pipeline from the oilfields in western Uganda to the Indian Ocean coast of Tanzania.
