Tanzania Makes 200+ Billion Cubic Feet Gas Discovery at Mnazi Bay, First Since 2015

Tanzania has made a Mnazi Bay gas discovery of 223 billion cubic feet in the Mtwara Region, with production expected from November 2026.

The Minister for Energy, Dr Juma Zuberi Homera, announced the first new natural gas find since 2015 on 27 October 2026.

The gas was found by the Kasa-1X ST2 exploration well, drilled by the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) with its operating partner, France’s Maurel & Prom (Euronext: MAU), which holds a 60% interest in the Mnazi Bay licence.

Maurel & Prom, in its activity report released on 22 October, estimated the find at about 200 billion cubic feet gross, or 120 billion cubic feet net to the company.

Homera stated that the Kasa well is expected to produce about 30 million cubic feet of gas per day for at least 10 years, while Maurel & Prom expects a gross production potential of 50 million cubic feet per day.

The other two wells of the same campaign, the MB-5 and MS-2 development wells, have raised Mnazi Bay production by more than 65 million cubic feet per day, according to Homera, and lifted current output to about 130 million cubic feet per day, according to Maurel & Prom, with a combined production potential of nearly 200 million cubic feet per day.

Maurel & Prom’s working-interest gas production at Mnazi Bay averaged 67.0 million cubic feet per day in the first nine months of 2026, up 12% year on year, while its sales in Tanzania rose 62% to USD 63 million.

More than 80% of the gas produced at Mnazi Bay is currently used for electricity generation at Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) power plants in Mtwara and Dar es Salaam.

TPDC is in discussions with four investors planning small-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, three of them in Mtwara, according to Homera.

Mnazi Bay and Tanzania’s Natural Gas Sector

Mnazi Bay is an onshore gas licence in Mtwara Region, near the border with Mozambique, governed by a Production Sharing Agreement signed in 2004 by Artumas, TPDC, and the then Ministry of Energy and Minerals.

Maurel & Prom entered the licence in 2009, and its gas has been delivered since 2015 through the 542-kilometre Mtwara-Dar es Salaam pipeline under a 2014 gas sales agreement with TPDC.

TPDC doubled its stake in the Mnazi Bay Block from 20% to 40% in 2024, paying Maurel & Prom USD 23.6 million under a new Joint Operating Agreement that also gives the state company decision-making power and long-term staff secondments.

The three-well programme was reviewed with the Petroleum Upstream Regulatory Authority (PURA) in September 2024, after Maurel & Prom announced an investment of USD 80 million in the field, whose recoverable reserves were then estimated at 641 billion cubic feet.

Tanzania’s natural gas reserves stand at 57.54 trillion cubic feet, of which 10.41 trillion cubic feet are onshore, where production is already underway, and 47.13 trillion cubic feet are in deep offshore fields, according to TPDC.