Tanzania Gears Up for Gas Exports to Enjoy Benefits

The government will soon start looking for markets to export natural gas, the Tanzania Petroleum

Development Corporation (TPDC) said yesterday.

The Ministry of Energy and Minerals has been given the green light to negotiate various contracts on

how gas will be extracted, processed and sold.

Tanzania’s deep-sea natural gas discoveries have reached 47.08 trillion cubic feet. The amount is

economically viable to sustain a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.

“The Ministry of Energy and Minerals should form a negotiation team that will involve experts from all

key stakeholders who will negotiate with multinational companies on how they can extract the natural

gas from deep sea and be sold locally and internationally before and after being processed through the

LNG,” the director of Upstream Operations at TPDC, Mr Kelvin Komba, told a workshop yesterday.

He said the contracts would show how various parties – including the government and companies –

would benefit in the resource.

The workshop brought together over 70 participants from various sectors with the aim of learning and

discussing what follows after recent natural gas discoveries.

“One of the contracts to be discussed has to do with markets in which experts must come up with

responses to such questions as: where should the products be sold and how much of it should remain

for public consumption?” he said.

At yesterday’s workshop stakeholders intended to share a common understanding of the benefit-

sharing phenomenon which will guide all parties on how to conduct the negotiations.

The workshop was opened by the deputy permanent secretary from the Ministry of Energy and

Minerals, Prof James Mdoe, who said he was optimistic that decreasing oil prices in the world market

would soon pick up again.

“We understand the prevailing situation of the industry where the global oil price has been unstable and

uncertain. All of us understand that this is part of the industry cycles and we anticipate the price may

stabilise to some extent… as parties involved, we must endeavour to ensure the realisation of the

project’s objectives,” he said.

NGS INDIA