Tullow Oil’s 2006 discovery of oil in western Uganda’s Lake Albert region prompted discussion of building a heated crude oil export pipeline to the Indian Ocean. For a decade discussions centred on the choice of route between a Kenyan or a Tanzanian seaport. Finally, in 2016 the presidents of Uganda and Tanzania, agreed the construction of the East African Pipeline starting at the 216,000 barrels per day Ugandan oil fields to the northern Tanzanian port of Tanga.

Construction of this $3.5 billion, 1,444-kilometre heated crude oil pipeline, could start in 2024, or later, depending on the state of oil prices. The route begins in Buseruka sub-county of the Hoima District in Uganda's Western Region. From here it will be directed in a south-easterly direction passing through Masaka in Uganda andBukoba in Tanzania, before looping around the southern shores of Lake Victoria, from which it will pass through Shinyanga and Singida townships ending at the Port of Tanga for export to southern and eastern Asia.

To fund its share of the costs, Uganda aims to borrow $130 million from international and domestic investors. The final investment decision awaits the approval of Uganda’s Parliamentary Committee on National Economy due in coming weeks.