By CGTN's Oliver Jarvis

Uganda and Tanzania have signed an agreement to fast-track the implementation of a crude oil pipeline project of around 4 billion US dollars. The agreement brings the two countries closer towards the commercialization of an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of crude oil resources in western Uganda.

Uganda's Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Irene Muloni, says they want to fast-track the process to meet the deadline of 2020 when the first drop of oil is expected.

"Now that we have laid the foundation, we need to make sure that things move and really move faster so that we are able to achieve the timeline of first oil in 2020," Muloni told CGTN Africa.

An oil exploration tower in Tonya, Uganda /VCG Photo‍

Tanzania's Minister of Constitutional and Legal Affairs, John Kabudi Palamagamba, said the project will boost the economies of both countries.

"The signing of the inter-governmental agreement between Uganda and Tanzania is significant in the sense that the construction of the pipeline is going to create jobs. Secondly it is going to sustain livelihoods of people throughout the route where it will pass."

French oil firm Total E&P is the lead partner in the crude oil export pipeline. The pipeline, 24 inches in diameter, covers a distance of over 1,400 kilometers from Uganda’s western district of Hoima to Tanga Port in Tanzania.

When completed, it will be longest heated pipeline in the world. The new agreement now awaits ratification from the parliaments of both Uganda and Tanzania to be legally binding.