Ethiopia and Kenya have inked a deal to construct a crude oil pipeline that would run from Lamu, a coastal town in Kenya, to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Abeba, AllAfrica reported. According to The East African, Kenya is set to start construction of the $2.1b crude oil pipeline to be completed in 2021, according to the country’s Ministry of Energy and Petroleum.

The agreement was concluded during an official visit by Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, to Nairobi, in the presence of Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta.

This project aims to integrate the efforts of the two countries as part of an earlier joint infrastructure regional project under the Lamu Port-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor, which has not materialized.

Previously, Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia had signed a deal for the development of a crude oil pipeline on the Hoima-Lokichar-Lamu route under the Lapsset program. However, Uganda abandoned the plan, which was estimated to generate 600b barrels of oil, as Kenya set a transportation charge of $12.6 per barrel of oil passing through the Hoima-Lokichar-Lamu route.