Reserves don't deliver energy; infrastructure does

The world talks about energy security as a question of reserves. But reserves alone aren't enough; without the infrastructure to produce, transport, and sell them, countries can wait decades to realise their value. Oil in the ground does not fund budgets. Core infrastructure transforms resources into national strength.

No country can lay a pipeline across another's territory unilaterally; the asset sits partly on land it does not control. There are two ways to structure that reality. Treat it as a transaction, one government paying for passage, and the result is a landlord-tenant relationship. Treat it as a joint undertaking, with both governments carrying a real stake in the outcome, and you end up with something closer to co-owners. In my experience, the second model creates stronger incentives to see a complex project through to completion. A co-owner has a much greater stake in staying at the table, particularly after significant political, financial and institutional commitments are made.

Commercial oil was found in the Albertine Graben back in 2006. For close to two decades, no single barrel could be refined or exported, as we had no domestic refinery and no way to reach a coastline, as Uganda has none of its own. Only a pipeline could give us access to the coast, and building one meant crossing another country.

We chose a joint-venture model. Uganda's national oil company (UNOC) and Tanzania's (TPDC) each hold an equal 15 per cent stake in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, alongside our international partners, in a project that ran from the Inter-Governmental Agreement in 2017, to Host Government Agreements, and other key commercial agreements through to Final Investment Decision in 2022. This withstood years of financing pressure that would likely have broken a weaker arrangement, because neither government could quietly walk away. The pipeline itself runs 1,447 kilometres, from Kabaale in Hoima District in Uganda to a terminal at Tanga Port in Tanzania, and it will become the world's longest buried and electrically heated crude oil pipeline once oil from our Tilenga and Kingfisher fields starts flowing (loading) for export.

The scale is only half of the story. EACOP is also a highly automated and digitalised energy system. Operators will be able to monitor critical operating conditions across the pipeline, including flow, pressure and temperature, while automated control, safety and leak-detection systems support its operation. That intelligence is especially important as the crude oil extracted is waxy, requiring temperature maintenance across 1,447km. The physical and digital infrastructure are therefore inseparable: one moves the oil; the other makes it possible to do so safely and reliably.

More than 12,000 people have been directly employed during construction across the project in Uganda and Tanzania. Furthermore, the engineers, welders, technicians, operators, and local companies that have worked to international standards can carry those capabilities into future projects. Infrastructure creates the people and businesses that can shape future projects.

Other emerging producer regions should pay attention here. Cross-border infrastructure is established by whichever countries can agree to carry the risk together and stick with that agreement through the years, even when the financing turns difficult and geopolitics becomes a major risk. That is the real bottleneck on new global energy supply.

By the end of August 2026, EACOP stood at 92.7% overall completion just in time for first oil. For a project of this scale, that number matters beyond the pipeline itself. It is evidence that complex, capital-intensive, cross-border infrastructure can move from agreement to execution when the parties involved remain committed to a common commercial objective.

It is why ADIPEC 2026, with its focus on building more resilient, intelligent energy systems, strikes me as the right forum for this argument. UNOC will be in Abu Dhabi from 2nd to 5th November, alongside ministers, investors and operators working to secure today's supply while building the infrastructure and capacity needed for future growth.

The lesson extends well beyond Uganda. Secure new energy supply depends not simply on the scale of a country's resources, but on its ability to turn them into reliable energy through infrastructure that crosses borders, withstands complexity, uses technology intelligently and builds long-term capability.

That is what Uganda's experience with EACOP demonstrates: what becomes possible when countries choose partnership over passage, build capability alongside infrastructure and remain committed from agreement through to delivery.

Resources are what a country discovers. Infrastructure is what it builds. And it is the ability to deliver that turns natural resources into energy security, opportunity, and lasting national strength.