KAMPALA (Reuters) - Stanbic Bank Uganda, lead arranger for the East African nation’s $2.5 billion debt for a crude oil pipeline, expects the deal to conclude in June next year, its chief executive said on Wednesday.
Uganda and Tanzania signed an agreement in May last year to jointly develop a pipeline that has been described as the longest electrically heated crude oil pipeline in the world.
Stanbic Uganda, a unit of South Africa’s Standard Bank Group, secured the role of joint arranger and adviser together with Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
The pipeline will cost a total of $3.5 billion, with the balance coming from shareholders in equity.
Patrick Mweheire, Stanbic’s CEO, said it had engaged in talks with other lenders in Europe, Japan and China and that “they have all been extremely positive”.
“People like the project ... the economics of the pipeline make a lot of sense. I think we are looking at some time in June next year for financial close,” he said in an interview.
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