DMEA: Kenyan insurer exits Ugandan oil pipeline consortium

Nairobi-listed Britam Holdings has withdrawn from a consortium of East African insurers providing coverage for a planned 1,443-km oil pipeline in Uganda and Tanzania, saying the project does not meet its backers’ standards.

Britam’s decision came to light in early November, when the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), an independent agency of the World Bank, responded to a complaint filed by Inclusive Development International, a US-based human rights organisation. The CAO’s response confirmed that Britam had bowed out of the group established by the Ugandan government to cover 30% of the risk of the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project.

It also said the insurer had done so after reviewing the environmental and social risks of the pipeline. The review led Britam to conclude that the EACOP project went against the precepts of International Finance Corp. (IFC), a member of the World Bank group that made a $35mn investment in the Kenyan insurer itself, it said.