Uganda and Tanzania signed an agreement to regulate the framework for the construction of the $3.55b crude export pipeline that will link the two countries, Reuters informed.

The agreement was signed by Tanzania’s Minister for Constitution and Legal Affairs, Palamagamba Kabudi, and Uganda’s Energy Minister, Irene Muloni, in Dar es Salaam, late May, The East African reported.

An official at Uganda’s Ministry of Energy told Reuters that the agreement covered terms on tax incentives for the project, implementation timelines, the size of the pipeline and local content levels.

In three years, Uganda is estimated to start pumping oil to international markets.

The 1,445km pipeline will link the two African countries, starting at landlocked Uganda’s western region, where crude reserves were discovered in 2006, and ending at Tanzania’s Indian Ocean seaport of Tanga.

Uganda’s estimated overall crude reserves are 6.5b barrels, while recoverable reserves are seen at between 1.4b and 1.7b barrels.