Tanzania, Uganda ink deal for gas pipeline
Tanzania and Uganda have signed an agreement for the construction of a natural gas pipeline. The multimillion dollar deal was signed at the end of a three-day Joint Permanent Commission Summit held in Kampala, led by Tanzania’s foreign minister Augustine Mahiga and Uganda’s minister for energy Irene Muloni.
Sep 06, 2018: Tanzania and Uganda have signed an agreement for the construction of a natural gas pipeline. The multimillion dollar deal was signed at the end of a three-day Joint Permanent Commission Summit held in Kampala, led by Tanzania’s foreign minister Augustine Mahiga and Uganda’s minister for energy Irene Muloni.
The deal was a culmination of work that began during the first Tanzania-Uganda meeting held in April 2017 in Arusha, in which the two agreed on a number of memoranda and co-operation frameworks.
The pipeline comes just 15 months after Dar es Salaam and Kampala agreed in May 2017, to construct a crude oil pipeline from Hoima in Uganda, to Chongoleani in Tanga.
The project led by French oil multinational Total as the main contactor was launched in Tanga by presidents John Magufuli of Tanzania and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.
This will be the first trans-border gas pipeline in East Africa since the extraction of natural gas commenced in 2004 at the Songosongo Island in Tanzania’s southern region of Lindi.
Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) set August 24, 2018, as the deadline for submission of tender documents for the consultancy services for feasibility studies.
TPDC MD Kapuulya Musomba has said that apart from carrying natural gas to Uganda, the pipeline will distribute the product along the route. About 10-15 Tanzania regions will benefit from the pipeline that will also serve as a catalyst for oil and gas exploration.
Tanzania has a confirmed natural gas recoverable reserve of 57.5 trillion cubic feet. The gas to be transmitted is meant for power generation for industrial and domestic use. A half of Tanzania’s power generation depends on natural gas plants generate 684.66MW, those using diesel 125.429MW and hydro 561.843MW.
