Dar’s natural gas cache reaches a massive 51 trillion cubic feet

Offshore oil and gas exploration platforms in the Indian Ocean. Tanzania’s natural gas deposits are now estimated at 50.5 trillion cubic feet. Photo/FILE 

By Alawi Masare

In Summary

• Statoil and ExxonMobil announced to have discovered more 2-3 TCF in the Piri-1 well in Block 2 offshore Tanzania, making the total of in-place volumes up to approximately 20 TCF in the Block.

Tanzania’s natural gas deposits are now estimated at 50.5 trillion cubic feet (TCF), up from 42 TCF recorded last July following new discoveries in the Indian Ocean, according to Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC).

TPDC public relations officer Sebastian Shana said that oil and gas exploration companies had been drilling successfully, growing the offshore total gas resource from 33.87 TCF last July to 42.5 TCF by June 19 this year.

“Prospects are so high that the companies may find more gas in different blocks and increase the resource. They are really doing a successful job,” he said during the second Tanzania Oil and Gas Suppliers Conference.

A total of 17 companies, including BG, Ophir, Statoil and ExxonMobil, are operating 25 licences on behalf of TPDC through Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs).

On Wednesday, Statoil and ExxonMobil announced to have discovered more 2-3 TCF in the Piri-1 well in Block 2 offshore Tanzania, making the total of in-place volumes up to approximately 20 TCF in the Block.

In the midst of these developments, the country is also preparing regulations to validate the gas policy approved by the Cabinet last year. Stakeholders want the government and other stakeholders to hasten the legislation process for local content development as well as investor protection.

“Lack of policy and legislation is making the local participation uncertain. We need to speed up the policy process to make the local content meaningful,” said TOL Gases managing director Daniel Warungu.

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He also urged the local oil and gas service providers to be reliable and improve quality of their services to retain their customers.

“The oil and gas investors do not care much about the cost of services… they want reliable services first,” he said.

The Citizen