100m cubic feet surplus gas on production channel daily

MARC NKWAME in Arusha

THE C-GGSU Canadian Aircraft, which will be used by the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), to conduct extensive oil and gas surveys in Arusha, Singida and Manyara regions, being docked at the Kilimanjaro International Airport. (Photo by Marc Nkwame)

TANZANIAN gas fields are yielding 260 million cubic feet a day, while the country’s gas-based energy needs at the moment stand at just 140 million cubic feet of the resources.

This, according to the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), Managing Director, Dr James Mataragio, means the country boasts a surplus production of over 100 million cubic feet of natural gas, daily. Dr Mataragio made the revelation when launching the exploration aircraft at Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) runaway over the weekend.

“The Songo-Songo gas field yields over 150 million Cubic Feet of Natural gas per day and the country can only consume 93 million cubic feet of that, leaving a surplus of over 53 million cubic feet and counting,” stated Dr Mataragio.

He also pointed out that the Mnazi Bay gas zone churns out over 110 million cubic feet of natural gas in a day and again Tanzania on its own can make use of just 47 million cubic feet of the product, leaving more than 63 million cubic feet in reserves.

“Our gas can generate over 500 Megawatts of electricity power in their current state, equivalent to 50 per cent of the country’s power requirement,” added the TPDC managing director, who also pointed out that once required gas power generators get installed, Tanzania power requirements can run on gas alone.

It is reported that based on the ongoing exploration activities, gas resources discovered in the country rose from 46.5 trillion Cubic Feet in June 2014 to 55.08 trillion cubic feet as of last April 2015, and this is equivalent to an increase of 18 per cent.

Last October, Tanzania raised its estimate of recoverable natural gas resources to reach around 53.2 trillion cubic feet. The country’s problem is not how much gas it has, but rather how to use it, with the tapping still on low end.

Experts are of the view that, Tanzania spends around 2 trillion/- every year in importing petroleum oil, to cater for the country’s energy needs that could easily be solved by shifting to gas resources.