The world on the constant look-out for new reserves of oil and gas as not only are global reserves being depleted quickly but reserves are being dominated exclusively by certain countries that end up monopolizing the O&G market. New discovery of natural gas reserves (said to be approximately 53.28 trillion cubic feet (tcf)) has been found in offshore Tanzania and Mozambican waters. This news has had analysts and all other people with oil & gas economic skills, assess the value of the reserves found. Believe it or not but after careful assessment, they have estimated the reserves to be sufficient enough to put Tanzania on the map as the third-largest exporter of natural gas!
Construction of Tanzania Oil & Gas pipeline
Once the discovery was made, plans to build a pipeline connecting the offshore natural gas field to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania had been initiated and now stands completed. The pipeline is a whopping 532 km long.
Financing Tanzania Oil & Gas pipeline
Both the land and marine pipeline and the Oil & Gas processing plants for the Tanzania Oil & Gas project has been financed by means of a loan from China to the tune of $1.225 billion!
The figures of each are as follows:
- Estimated cost of construction of the pipeline: $875.7 million
- Estimated cost of processing plants: $349.6 million
Tanzania Oil & Gas Project Timeline
The land and marine pipeline connecting the offshore natural gas fields to Dar-es-Salaam is complete, but due to “technical setbacks” and completion delays, will only be operational from November 2015.
There is also additional work that needs to be done; inspection testing to the pipeline as well as construction of two gas-processing plants which is currently 96 percent to completion.
Whilst completion and commissioning delays will impact the timing and amount of expected cash flow generated in 2015, Oil explorer Wentworth Resources Managing Director said that they foresee tangible progress towards first gas being delivered into the new pipeline by Summer time (July 2015).
This timeline for commissioning of gas however has been stated as unlikely to happen, according to Tanzania’s energy regulator, Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and has said that it is more likely to be ready by November 2015.
The future for Tanzania Oil & Gas market
According to the TPDC, Tanzania government hopes to save approximately $1 billion a year in oil imports for electricity generation after the completion of the pipeline by switching to gas-fired power plants. This will significantly improve the position of Tanzanian, in the Oil & Gas market globally.
Large amounts of money is now being invested into East Africa and Tanzania because of the Gas discovery. Since 2010, Tanzania has witnessed further exploration and discoveries of significant quantities of natural gas both on- and off-shore and with gas being discovered, the region is only set to see further growth.
Let’s keep our eyes out for O & G opportunities in this region!
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