Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE government has issued a seven-month target to petroleum authorities in the country to complete oil explorations and embark on drilling and production as it seeks to widen sources of revenues.
Energy Minister, Dr Medard Kalemani told the state Petroleum Upstream Regulatory Authority (PURA), Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and Petroleum Bulk Procurement Agency (PBPA) Boards of Directors that people were not interested in seismic survey and instead they want to see things happening.
He said during his first meeting with the petroleum regulatory authority bosses in Dodoma that Tanzanians are eager to see the products of research and survey.
He gave the authorities up to July, next year to begin commercial drilling and production even if it will be at the expense of the government.
“Even if it is by chance, those are the investment costs… we want this ministry to move faster, creatively and accurately,” he said.
Tanzania, which is rich in resources has had records of oil exploration since the early 1950s and hasn’t made any commercial discoveries.
Official reports suggest that a team of petroleum experts from Tanzania and Uganda recorded an “all signs” of oil in the Eyasi-Wembere Basin in the northern part of the country in 2017.
TPDC, announced later in 2019 that it was investing 2bn/- into drilling of three oil wells with 300 metres-depth each as part of the oil exploration project.
One was planned at Kining’inila village in Igunga District, Tabora region and the remaining two at Meatu and Iramba in Simiyu and Singida regions respectively.
Dr Kalemani emphasized at the meeting that “enough is enough with the exploration work” and that commercial drilling and production should take the course.
The minister highlighted that the government had already commissioned the ports of Tanga and Mtwara to discharge petroleum products.
He said efforts must be made to facilitate the same at the Mwanza and Kagera ports to ease transportation cost of the precious liquid.
PURA Board Chairman Prof Gaspar Mhinzi acknowledged that there has been positive development at the Eyasi- Wembere basin in which the authority will work with key stakeholders and the ministry to implement the project.
“We are ready to work together and collaborate …however, we will seek an audience with the ministry on how best to implement the project,” he said.
Since 2011, Tanzania began importing petroleum products through a bulk procurement system that analysts say it helped improve supply and control prices in the local markets.
An average of five billion litres of petroleum products is imported every year by oil marketing companies. Oil exploration in Tanzania began in the 1950s and since then 23 deep test wells have been drilled and more than 30,000 line kilometres of seismic lines recorded.
One of the wells drilled in 1984 encountered an oil source rock, and surface oil seeps have been observed both in the coastal basin and in the western rift valley.
Currently, 116,580 square kilometres of the country is under licence, representing about 55 per cent of the total area covered by potential petroleum basins. 14 exploration and development licenses are currently covering 5 different areas across Tanzania.
Oil discoveries in Uganda’s Lake Albert region have led many oil exploration companies to begin looking at the possibility of oil in Tanzania’s Lake Rukwa basin via Lake Tanganyika in the western branch of the Rift Valley.
