The StopEACOP coalition today sent an open letter to eight African and Middle East financial institutions, urging them to fully disclose their involvement in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).

The letter, signed by 149 organisations including groups from EACOP-affected communities, follows new analysis that revealed previously undisclosed lending to the EACOP project.

Reclaim Finance identified roughly US$3.7 billion in project lending between 2025 and 2026, with Afreximbank, KCB Group and KCB Bank Uganda, the Islamic Development Bank Group and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, NMB Bank Tanzania, Qatar National Bank, Standard Bank Group and Stanbic Bank Uganda, and Uganda Development Bank linked to deals. 

At African Energy Week (October 12–16), Uganda National Oil Company officials said they now aimed for commercial oil production by June 2027, a further delay after previous first-oil target dates were set for 2025, then June 2026 and July 2026. Tanzania's state petroleum company separately stated crude should reach Tanga by February 2027, with the first tanker loading in March. 

After more than 40 banks and 30 insurers refused to back EACOP or adopted policies against it, African and Gulf lenders largely covered the remaining debt. Only a first portion, from Afreximbank, Standard Bank, Stanbic Bank Uganda, KCB Bank Uganda, and ICD, was ever publicly confirmed by EACOP Ltd, and without amounts. The terms and exposure of the larger group, including NMB Bank, Qatar National Bank, and Uganda Development Bank, remain undisclosed.

What the coalition wants:

The letter demands each institution:

• Disclose the full scope, structure, and terms of its support to EACOP, including exposure through bonds, guarantees, or réhaadvisory roles.

• Commit to no further funding for EACOP expansion or related oil development in the Albertine Graben or elsewhere.

• Fund remedy for harm to affected communities, through an independent, community-led mechanism providing compensation, livelihood restoration, and environmental cleanup, paid by EACOP Ltd and its backers proportional to their role.

Why does it matter now?

"First oil does not mark an end to the harm caused by EACOP. It escalates and entrenches it," said Zaki Mamdoo, StopEACOP Campaign Coordinator. “The institutions who have poured billions into EACOP must now answer publicly for what they have financed and must take responsibility for repairing the destruction brought by their investment decisions.”

For people whose land and livelihoods have been affected by the pipeline, the consequences of these financing decisions are already part of daily life.

“When they took our land, we lost more than the land itself. We lost the means to support our families. Compensation was supposed to help us rebuild our lives, but for some of us, that has not happened. Now we hear about the banks financing this pipeline, and we want to know: do they understand what has happened to the people whose land made this project possible?”, said Rachael Tugume, EACOP-Project Affected Person.

"Dozens of banks and insurers have rightly refused to support TotalEnergies’ EACOP project due its massive impacts on climate, local biodiversity, communities’ livelihoods and human rights. The 8 banks that have accepted to finance the project will be held accountable by civil society organisations for these impacts. They must get ready to contribute to reparative justice for communities and commit to exclude any new financing to oil and gas expansion in Uganda and the rest of the world." said Antoine Bouhey, Defund TotalEnergies' campaign coordinator at Reclaim Finance.

The coalition warns that the risks it has documented – including land acquisition and compensation failures, lost livelihoods, militarization, and environmental damage along the route and at the Chongoleani terminal in Tanga – won't end when oil flows. They will get worse.

In the letter, the financial institutions are asked to clarify their position by 16 November. The coalition will publish all responses and non-responses after the deadline.

Notes to editors:

1. The open letter and the signatory list can be found at this link.
2. Spokespeople are available in Uganda, Tanzania and from our internal experts.
3. About the StopEACOP Campaign: The StopEACOP Coalition is an alliance of local groups, communities, and African and global organizations. The #StopEACOP Coalition has been calling for a halt to the proposed pipeline and associated oil fields at Tilenga and Kingfisher. The StopEACOP campaign is gaining momentum, building pressure on the remaining supporters and financiers of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. To date, 43 banks and 30 (re)insurers have already ruled out support for EACOP.