VENTURES AFRICA – Tanzania’s new found oil and gas reserves has seen it become a hive of activity in the global energy industry with several world renowned multi-nationals jostling for a stake in the east African country’s lucrative mineral resource.
This week, Tanzania’s Energy ministry disclosed that it has held talks with France’s Total and Britain’s BP over oil and gas exploration. They join a long list of oil companies interested in the country in which Norway’s Statoil, Brazil’s Petrobras, Royal Dutch Shell, BG Group and Exxon Mobil are already present.
In May, China’s state-run offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC Ltd and Russian gas producer Gazprom also submitted bids for four of the eight oil and gas blocks Tanzania offered in its fourth offshore licensing round.
The attractiveness of Tanzania’s 53.2 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable natural gas resources has brought hot competition among the global energy power players, but Energy and Minerals Minister Sospeter Muhongo says such competition can only be a good thing. “We welcome competition and we would like many companies to participate in this sector,” the minister enthused. Like Tanzania, much of East Africa have also become hubs for energy companies with oil and gas discoveries. Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan, Mozambique and Ethiopia have all recently discovered oil in their respective countries.Uganda and Kenya, both currently working on a oil transport deal, will commence oil production in 2017. Oil exploration in East Africa was sparked off by the discovery of between 1.5 and 2 billion barrels of commercially viable oil reserves in northern Uganda in the last decade with a total known oil reserves in the country estimated at 3.5 billion barrels.
This week, Tanzania’s Energy ministry disclosed that it has held talks with France’s Total and Britain’s BP over oil and gas exploration. They join a long list of oil companies interested in the country in which Norway’s Statoil, Brazil’s Petrobras, Royal Dutch Shell, BG Group and Exxon Mobil are already present.
In May, China’s state-run offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC Ltd and Russian gas producer Gazprom also submitted bids for four of the eight oil and gas blocks Tanzania offered in its fourth offshore licensing round.
The attractiveness of Tanzania’s 53.2 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable natural gas resources has brought hot competition among the global energy power players, but Energy and Minerals Minister Sospeter Muhongo says such competition can only be a good thing. “We welcome competition and we would like many companies to participate in this sector,” the minister enthused. Like Tanzania, much of East Africa have also become hubs for energy companies with oil and gas discoveries. Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan, Mozambique and Ethiopia have all recently discovered oil in their respective countries.Uganda and Kenya, both currently working on a oil transport deal, will commence oil production in 2017. Oil exploration in East Africa was sparked off by the discovery of between 1.5 and 2 billion barrels of commercially viable oil reserves in northern Uganda in the last decade with a total known oil reserves in the country estimated at 3.5 billion barrels.
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