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A French court on Tuesday dismissed a landmark case against TotalEnergies for a massive oil project in Uganda and Tanzania after several NGOs filed a suit to suspend the controversial project. It was the first case of its kind in France, and activists had hoped it would set a legal precedent to halt projects deemed harmful to the environment and human rights.
A French court on Tuesday dismissed a landmark case against TotalEnergies for a massive oil project in Uganda and Tanzania after several NGOs filed a suit to suspend the controversial project. It was the first case of its kind in France, and activists had hoped it would set a legal precedent to halt projects deemed harmful to the environment and human rights.
Six NGOs that filed the suit argued the development of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) failed to adhere to a duty of vigilance, a 2017 law that compels companies to avoid grave harm to human rights, health, safety, and the environment.
The court on Tuesday ruled the case was “inadmissible”, saying the plaintiffs did not correctly follow court procedures against the French energy giant. It said the plaintiffs submitted accounts to the court in December that were substantially different from those that were presented to TotalEnergies in a formal notice in 2019 when the case was initiated.
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The suit was brought by two French and four Ugandan NGOs, which accused TotalEnergies of taking land from more than 100,000 people without adequate compensation. They also said the company drilled wells in the biodiversity-rich Murchison Falls National Park on the shores of Lake Albert.
The $10 billion oilfields and pipeline project has been hailed as an economic boon for Uganda and Tanzania, where many live in poverty while being strongly opposed by environmentalists. The project is being jointly developed by TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), along with the state-owned Uganda National Oil Company. The 1,443-kilometre (900-mile) pipeline will transport crude from vast oil fields being developed in Lake Albert in northwestern Uganda to a Tanzanian port on the Indian Ocean. Lake Albert, a natural border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, lies atop an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of crude, of which about 1.4 billion barrels are currently considered recoverable.
Tanzanian Energy Minister January Makamba this month rejected the environmental and rights concerns as propaganda, saying the country complied with environmental, safety, and human rights standards.
