Tanzania and Uganda Partner to Build $20 Billion Energy Hub

The governments of Tanzania and Uganda, alongside global energy trader Vitol Bahrain E.C., signed a memorandum of understanding on August 6, 2026, to develop the Tanga Regional Energy Hub. Witnessed by Presidents Samia Suluhu Hassan and Yoweri Museveni in Dar es Salaam, the agreement involves the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation and the Uganda National Oil Company.

Tanzania intends to transform the Port of Tanga into a strategic energy node featuring a crude oil refinery, terminal tank farms, a receiving jetty, and a bidirectional multiproduct pipeline. Tanzanian Energy Minister Deogratius Ndejembi estimated the project could attract over $20 billion in investment. The hub will serve as the terminus for the 1,443-kilometer East African Crude Oil Pipeline, allowing Ugandan crude to be refined locally and distributed to markets in Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda.

This initiative provides Uganda a strategic alternative to Kenya's Port of Mombasa, through which it currently imports 95% of its petroleum. The shift follows regional fuel supply disruptions linked to the Iran war, which highlighted the vulnerability of imported energy. Beyond the hub, the two nations are advancing a natural gas pipeline and a 400-kilovolt electricity interconnector, the latter of which has secured $250 million in World Bank financing.