Tanzania Energy Officials Seek To Build US Partnerships

Tanzania Minister of Energy and Minerals, Sospeter Muhongo, met with US natural gas companies in Houston, Texas to discuss opportunities for harnessing newly discovered natural gas resources in the growing Tanzania energy sector and indicated that the Government of Tanzania is eager to establish a partnership U.S. for the development of the country’s gas industry. According to the Houston Chronicle, US-based General Electric Company (GE) has already invested more than USD 4 billion in equipment for its sub-Saharan division in the past three years and is currently working on a deal that will provide Jacobsen Elektro with four US-manufactured gas turbines to support a 152-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant in Kinyerezi, Tanzania. According to Jay Ireland, CEO of GE Africa, the development of the Tanzania gas industry is important to the growth and development of the Tanzanian economy. “The ability to use the gas as fuel for power generation, which will kick-start the economy, is absolutely key,” said Mr. Ireland to the Houston Chronicle.