Production has yet to begin, but TotalEnergies' controversial East African oil project is already taking a dire environmental toll in Uganda's largest national parks, a leading conservationist group said Friday.

Despite opposition from environmentalists and rights activists, the French energy giant is pushing ahead with its Tilenga drilling project in Uganda and a 1,443-kilometre (897-mile) East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) to transport its output to the Tanzanian coast.

The $10-billion project involves drilling more than 400 oil wells in western Uganda, many of them in Murchison Falls Nature Park, a biodiversity reserve and the country's largest national park.

TotalEnergies, which is working with Chinese oil company CNOOC, insists it is "a responsible operator" acting "transparently on social and environmental issues" surrounding the project.

But environmentalists say the project is already severely impacting wildlife and the fragile ecosystem in the park, just a year after drilling began and before production gets underway next year.

A report from the Africa Institute........

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