The Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) has recently announced that a group of Indian companies is interested in using data from the Airborne Gravity Gradiometry Survey (AGGS) to evaluate investments in the country’s oil & gas sector.
The announcement was done by TPDC Managıng Dırector, Dr. James Mataragio, whom explained that results from the AGGS launched in December, 2015, in Lake Tanganyika North Block are so far very promising and the mapping of hydrocarbon resources will help prospectors to easily identify potential areas.
The AGGS is being fully funded by TPDC’s Development Fund and mapping activities were expected to last until the end of January, 2016, over the districts of Kigoma Rural, Kigoma, Ujiji, Uvinza, and Mpanda which compound the north block.
However, two low-flying special aircrafts at altitudes between the 80 metres and 100 metres above the ground at a speed of 220 km per hour are still surveying the ground and the exercise is expected to be completed in two weeks, explained Dr. Mataragio.
Lake Tanganyika North Block together with the South Block and Offshore blocks, constitute the Lake Tanganyika area that has recently attracted attention from energy companies interested in undertaking hydrocarbon exploration.
According to TPDC Director of Downstream Operations, Dr. Wellington Hudosn, Kamal Group of Companies from India is currently in talks with the government to extend the national grid from Dar es Salaam to Zinga Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Bagamoyo district in Tanzania’s coastal region.
The project is expected to reach a total investment of USD 20 million, which includes the setting up of a power generation plant to add 40 MW to the installed capacity and an extra 6,500 kilometres of gas pipeline to supply 30,000 households in the region.
According to Bloomberg, Kamal Group of Companies is one of the main Indian investors in Tanzania accounting for approximately 30.0% of the USD 1.8 billion Indian foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to the African country.
