NO enough natural gas resources of potential economic viability were discovered from exploration activities carried out at Fukayosi Ward in Bagamoyo District in 2015, the government has said.
The Deputy Minister for Energy and Minerals, Subira Mghalu said in Parliament here yesterday that the exploration works carried out by Dodsal Hydrocarbons & Power (Tanzania) in Mng’ongo Village, in
Fukayosi Ward in Bagamoyo District showed the reserves were not economically viable for commercial drilling.
She was answering a basic question from Dr Shukuru Kawambwa (Bagamoyo--CCM) who wanted to know results of the gas exploration activities conducted at the village. The Deputy Minister said Dodsal Hydrocarbons and Power (Tanzania) had drilled 3,866 metres exploration well known as Mtini – 1 from May 2015 (spud date) and was completed on July 2015.
The Deputy Minister said however, exploratory activities continue in Kwala, Ruvu and Vigwaza areas of Coast Region to determine whether there would be enough resources of economic value.
The gas and oil exploration company announced in February 2016 to have discovered 2.17 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of possible natural gas deposits, raising the nation’s total estimated recoverable natural gas reserves to over 57 tcf The onshore reserves were found at the field licensed to the Dodsal Group located at Ruvu basin in Coast Region. “We have learnt that there are huge potentials of hydrocarbons in Tanzania.
We expect to have more gas discoveries in the near future,” the CEO of Tanzania’s subsidiary of the group, Pilavulathill Surendran, was quoted by the media as saying. Tanzania is a hotspot for hydrocarbon explorations after substantial reserves were discovered in deep-sea offshore blocks in Lindi and Mtwara regions.
BG Group acquired by Royal Dutch Shell, along with Statoil, Exxon Mobil and Ophir Energy plan to build the onshore LNG export terminal in the southern Tanzanian town of Lindi in partnership with state-run Tanzania Petroleum Development Corp (TPDC).