By:Express

Africa is seeing an unprecedented development of its energy resources and infrastructure, with billions of pounds being invested into new projects.

International companies from Canada, France to China are heavily involved in plans to extract gas and oil from the continent's abundant deposits of fossil fuels.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says Africa's energy expenditure will reach a cool £84 billion in 2024, with fossil fuel supply and power accounting for £54 billion.

One country keen to unlock its oil resources and boost its economic fortunes is Uganda.

The East African country is estimated to have 6.5 billion barrels of oil reserves, with at least 1.4 billion believed to be economically recoverable.

Currently the French company Total SA and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) have production licenses to develop Uganda's oil reserves for export.

As part of the project, a 1,443 km (896 miles) crude oil pipeline - known as the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Project (EACOP) - will be built from Uganda's Tilenga and Kingfisher oil fields to the Port of Tanga, Tanzania on the Indian Ocean.

Eighty percent of the 24 inch pipeline will run through Tanzania and will be buried in the ground, as well as being thermally insulated.

Once completed it would be the longest electrically heated crude oil pipeline in the world.