Menu

Climate activists are organizing protests to hold on Tuesday, May 25, 2021, at Total's operations in multiple African countries. According to a statement sent today to Financial Nigeria by 350.org, an international movement of people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all, the protests are aimed at shining a spotlight on Total’s human rights violations and climate inaction.

The group said the French oil giant is involved in controversial projects across the African continent, notably the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and the Mozambique Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) project, which have witnessed displacement of local communities as well as several human rights violations that have been called out by activists and frontline communities.

The protests are scheduled to hold with photo opportunities at Total petrol stations in Lome, Togo; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Kampala, Uganda; and Nairobi, Kenya.

The EACOP project is being developed to transport crude oil from three oil fields being developed in Uganda. 350.org said the EACOP would be the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world, estimated to cost $2.5 billion. At full production at the oil fields, the pipeline is expected to transport up to 230,000 barrels of crude oil a day. Total and China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) are the main developers of this project after Tullow Oil pulled out.

In 2010, a vast quantity of natural gas was discovered off the coast of Mozambique, leading to the conception of the Mozambique LNG Project. The project is expected to cost $20 billion, with financing amounting to $14.9 billion, the biggest ever in Africa. The project’s financing arrangements include direct and covered loans from 19 commercial bank facilities, eight Export Credit Agencies (ECAs), including those from the US, Japan, UK, Italy, Thailand, Netherlands and South Africa, and a $400 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB). Total is a key proponent of this project.