By: OrePulse

Tanzania awarded four new petroleum exploration licences to state-owned Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) on October 28, a day after the government announced a natural gas discovery estimated at 223 billion cubic feet at the Mnazi Bay field in the country's southeastern Mtwara region.

The licences — covering the Eyasi-Wembere, Lindi-Mtwara, West Songo Songo and Mnazi Bay North blocks — were signed in Dar es Salaam at a ceremony witnessed by Vice President Deogratius Ndejembi. Energy Minister Dr. Juma Zuberi Homera said the awards expand TPDC's exploration role and are intended to build local technical expertise, and credited President Samia Suluhu Hassan's backing for the push.

The discovery announced October 27 was made at the Kasa-1X ST2 well in Mnazi Bay, drilled jointly by TPDC and French operator Maurel & Prom. The government put the find at roughly 223 billion cubic feet, while Maurel & Prom gave a preliminary estimate of about 200 billion cubic feet, which it said remained subject to evaluation. Homera said the well could sustain output of around 30 million cubic feet a day for at least a decade, depending on how it is developed.

Officials said combined production from two existing Mnazi Bay wells, MB-5 and MS-2, has risen by more than 65 million cubic feet a day. Maurel & Prom has reported total Mnazi Bay output of about 130 million cubic feet a day this month, supplying both power generation and domestic consumers. Homera said more than 80 percent of Mnazi Bay gas feeds state utility TANESCO's plants in Mtwara and Dar es Salaam.

The government puts Tanzania's total discovered gas resources at 57.54 trillion cubic feet, split between 47.13 trillion cubic feet offshore and 10.41 trillion cubic feet onshore. A roughly 35-kilometer pipeline linking the Ntorya field to the Madimba processing facility is about 74 percent complete, officials said.

Domestic gas use has also grown: by September, Tanzania had 22 compressed natural gas filling stations and 20 vehicle-conversion workshops, with six industries, 21 institutions and about 5,000 households connected to gas distribution networks. TPDC said it is in talks with four prospective investors on small-scale liquefied natural gas projects, three of them proposed for the Mtwara region.

The ministry said about 200 Tanzanians are employed by companies working on the Mnazi Bay drilling program, and that local businesses have won 35 contracts worth more than 20 billion Tanzanian shillings. TPDC raised its stake in the Mnazi Bay joint venture from 20 percent to 40 percent in 2024; Maurel & Prom holds the remaining 60 percent.

The Petroleum Upstream Regulatory Authority welcomed the new licences and said it remains committed to regulatory compliance, while encouraging greater participation by Tanzanian professionals and companies in the sector. Officials linked the developments to Tanzania's Development Vision 2050, though they cautioned that future production will depend on further exploration results, commercial viability, financing and infrastructure.