Tanzania has entered into an agreement with Uganda to
help in the search for oil in the Eyasi Wembere Basin and Lake Tanganyika. The
two countries already have a crude pipeline deal.
This puts to doubt Tanzania’s previous agreement with
Democratic Republic of Congo signed a year ago to work on a joint oil
exploration in Lake Tanganyika.
DR Congo has discovered oil in Lake Albert on its border
with Uganda and it hopes to find oil in Lake Tanganyika.
Experts from Uganda and Tanzania are now working together
and have already gathered geological and geophysical information in Eyasi
Wembere basin in central Tanzania.
In August, when Tanzania’s President John Magufuli and
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni laid foundation stones for the Hoima-Tanga
oil pipeline, President Magufuli asked President Museveni to provide his
country’s expertise in oil exploration to Dar es Salaam. The request took only
a month to be implemented.
The groundwork began two weeks ago when technicians from
the Tanzania Ministry of Energy and Minerals, Tanzania Petroleum Development
Corporation and Petroleum Upstream Regulatory Authority and Ugandan experts
toured the Eyasi Wembere basin and Sekenke hills.
Oil deposits
After the tour, Uganda’s acting Permanent Secretary of
Energy and Mineral Development of Uganda Robert Kasande and his Tanzania
counterpart, deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Minerals
Juliana Pallangyo said geological and physical characteristics of the area
suggested presence of oil deposits.
The team examined rocks around Sekenke in Singida region
central Tanzania and Mwanzugi and Kining’inila villages in Singida and Tabora
regions.
Mr Kasande said the team will send their recommendations
to the Tanzanian government and that could lead to further exploration and oil
drilling of test wells in the area. Their report also includes a proposed work
plan, budget and equipment needed.
He said he is optimistic of oil finds in the area partly
because other countries that share the basin such as Kenya and Uganda have
discovered oil deposits in the same basin.
Should Tanzania find oil, it will be drilled and
transported through the Hoima-Tanga pipeline for export from the Tanga port.
Gas reserves
Tanzania has the second largest natural gas reserves in
East Africa with 57.27 trillion cubic feet (tcf) so far discovered, behind
Mozambique with 100tcf.
However, the country is a net importer of petroleum
products. During the 2014–2015 financial year, the country imported a total of
4.6 billion litres of petroleum products.
On its part, Uganda discovered large oil reserves in 2006
near Lake Albert in the western part of the country. Total — the French oil
company that is developing the fields along with Tullow and China National
Offshore Oil Corporation — expects the project to produce oil by 2020. The area
is estimated to have 1.7 billion recoverable barrels of oil.
Dr Pallangyo said Tanzania is keen to exploit Uganda’s
experience in the oil industry while Kampala could benefit from Tanzania’s
pipeline expertise given that the country manages the Tanzania-Zambia pipeline
and the Songo Songo gas pipeline.
Last year, Uganda chose the Tanzanian route for its
1,115km crude oil pipeline instead of the Kenyan deal that was a shorter 900km
route. Tanzania offered Uganda several incentives such as tax relief, a tax
holiday for 20 years and a free corridor for construction of pipeline
infrastructure.