New satellite analysis shows that wells and roads for a project in Uganda feeding Africa’s longest heated oil pipeline have progressed significantly within a protected area and near a critical wetland.

The Tilenga oil field marks the starting point of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project, currently under construction by the French multinational TotalEnergies. The pipeline will run 1,443 kilometers (897 miles) from the Tilenga and Kingfisher fields in landlocked Uganda to the Indian Ocean port of Tanga in Tanzania for export.

Tilenga, also operated by TotalEnergies, sits near the border of Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda’s largest protected area and home to endangered Rothschild giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi), African bush elephants (Loxodonta africana) and Ugandan kob antelopes (Kobus kob thomasi).

U.S.-based environmental watchdog Earth Insight analyzed satellite images that showed 39% of the EACOP pipeline was near completion as of June 2025, although some officials recently claimed 62% of it is complete.

The analysis also showed that 22% of a feeder pipeline from Tilenga has been built, with about 630 square kilometers (243 square miles) of vegetation cleared near the park for the pipeline’s development. Furthermore, the analysis identified 38 kilometers (nearly 24 miles) of roads and nine areas cleared for drilling sites inside Murchison Falls National Park.

One of the drilling sites cleared in 2025 is located on the border of the Murchison Falls–Albert Delta Wetland System, near the Victoria Nile River. Classified as a Ramsar site because of its ecological importance as a wetland, the area hosts a rich variety of waterbirds and is also crucial to freshwater fisheries for local communities. An oil pipeline running through such an area risks oil spills, impacting both biodiversity and the people who rely on it for their livelihoods, the analysis notes.

TotalEnergies’ other oil projects in the region, such as in the Republic of Congo, have previously been accused of hydrocarbon pollution.

Diana Nabiruma, from the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO), said Earth Insight’s findings aren’t surprising. “But still, you hope that there can be change, that the company can listen, do better and avoid drilling in at least the national park,” Nabiruma said.

The development within the Ramsar site is particularly “sad,” she added, “because community members and some tourism sector stakeholders rely directly on these resources.”

“Civil society and people who care about biodiversity have asked Total to reconsider drilling oil in the park in order to protect nature and protect people’s livelihoods. But the company has refused to do so and is going ahead,” said Nabiruma, who has been a frontline activist against the EACOP project for years, including leading campaigns against the jailing of fellow critics.

TotalEnergies hadn’t responded to Mongabay’s request for comment by the time this article was published.

Banner image: Murchison Falls is meant to be protected, yet faces threats from oil activity. Image courtesy of Earth Insight.