Yesterday marked the final day of Tanzania’s second annual Oil and Gas Conference, and offshore block bidding begins today, October 25th.
During the conference Vice-President Dr. Mohamed Gharib Bilal announced that Tanzania plans to work with international corporations in designing strategies and policies that promote sustainability and capacity building so that all Tanzanians might benefit from oil and gas.
The Tanzanian Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) was represented at the conference, and Minister of Energy and Minerals, Sospeter Muhongo, explained that TPDC would soon be split into two entities: one that regulates the fast growing gas industry, and one that acts as a publicly-owned, commercial oil company.
The conference was attended by representatives from BG Group, Ophir Energy, Exxon Mobile, Statoil, and Petrobras.
Bidding on the Deep Sea Offshore Blocks and Lake Tanganyika North Offshore Block begins today and remain open until May, 2014.
According to the conference website, “The Deep Sea Offshore Blocks are located in water depths of 2,000 to 3,000 m adjacent to proven prospective blocks. The Lake Tanganyika North Offshore Block is located in 1,500 m water depth along the western arm of the East African Rift System that is proven prospective for commercial liquid hydrocarbons.”
