CAPE TOWN (SOUTH AFRICA), Oct 12 (NNN-DAILYNEWS) — TANZANIA has announced new oil and gas licensing rounds at the Africa Oil Week: Investing in African Energy Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
Deputy Minister for Energy, Judith Kapinga, announced that the government will begin the promotion of 24 oil and natural gas exploration blocks in March 2025 during the East African Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition to be held in the country.
“Tanzania’s fifth licensing round will offer 24 offshore and onshore exploration blocks with the process set to open on March 5, 2025. The blocks are located in the Indian Ocean and Lake Tanganyika,” she said.
Kapinga made the statement while addressing the African Oil Week Conference taking place in Cape Town, South Africa, attended by participants from 70 countries worldwide. The conference aims at discussing issues related to oil and natural gas.
The licensing terms include a nine-year exploration period and a 25-year development and production phase, with a potential 20-year extension.
Technical data, including seismic, gravity and bathymetric reports, will be made available.
On the other hand, Zanzibar announced eight blocks, ranging in size from 2,846 square kilometres to 5,666 square kilometres at depths between 500 metres and 3,000 metres.
The licensing area totals 31,883 square kilometres and includes 10,145 linear kilometres of 2D seismic data. The exploration plan covers a five-year period.
Oil and gas exploration activities in Tanzania began in the 1950s and to date, approximately 57 trillion cubic feet of natural gas have been discovered.
Natural gas is used for electricity generation, energy in vehicles, industrial applications and households, with the aim of aligning with the global energy transition agenda while promoting the use of natural gas.
The energy sector is not a union matter, which means that mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar are conducting their oil and gas licensing rounds separately.
Tanzania has an estimated 57 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, mostly discovered in offshore fields south of the country.
Zanzibar is yet to make commercial discoveries of oil and gas but there are promising signs of hydrocarbon deposits in offshore blocks.
Regarding clean cooking energy, the deputy minister stated that this is a national agenda led by President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan, who collaborates with other stakeholders to ensure the intended goals are achieved.
Kapinga highlighted various investment opportunities available in the country through the Ministry of Energy and invited investors to invest in Tanzania.
She said that the government will continue to create friendly investment environment in various areas, including oil and natural gas exploration.
Kapinga encouraged investors to come and invest in Tanzania due to the presence of enabling infrastructure that facilitates the transportation of oil and gas products, including a natural gas pipeline from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam, three natural gas processing plants, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline and an oil pipeline from Tanzania to Zambia (TAZAMA). — NNN-DAILYNEWS
