RUSSIA's gas company Gazprom is expanding the
geography of its projects abroad. The Russian gas giant reports that they are
currently evaluatin the prospects of work in Tanzania. If a positive decision
is made, this will be Gazprom’s first project in East Africa.
The Tanzanian gas industry began its active
development only recently. Nevertheless, the country has already opened its
doors to such leaders of the world oil and gas sector as Exxon Mobil, Statoil,
Shell and Petrobras. Tanzania’s prospective gas resources are about 2trln cubic
metres. Western companies are planning to build a plant manufacturing liquefied
natural gas with a capacity of 10mln tons a year. Tanzania has a really large
export potential due to both its great gas resources and a favourable geographic
position. Leading analyst of the Institute of Energy and Finances Ivan Bagramov
comments:
“Most likely, one or even a few plants manufacturing
liquefied gas will be built in Tanzania. The current orientation is towards the
Asian market, so Gazprom will become very close to the Indian market which is
potentially very capacious.”
In addition, the Tanzanian market itself is of great
interest. The main source of energy in the country is wood and practically all
oil is imported.
Nevertheless, considering Tanzania’s potential oil
and gas resources, its government intends to build a new gas-based economy with
the help of attracting foreign investment. Even though the extraction industry
is only beginning to develop in the country, international investors have
already appreciated the potential.
Thus, China alone intends to invest up to $10bln in
the Tanzanian economy in the next few years. One of the projects involves
building a gas pipeline worth $1bln 200mln. This pipeline is to connect gas
fields in the south of the country with the port of Tanzania’s largest city of
Dar es Salaam.
On the other
hand, if Gazprom finally decides to secure a footing in Tanzania, it can also
make a significant investment, in the opinion of the chief of the Analytical
Research Department of the University Capital investment group Dmitry
Alexandrov.
“The minimum that we can rely on is between $1bln
and $1,5bln but in the case of Gazprom participating in the construction of a
liquefied gas terminal the cost of the project may grow to $10bln. Naturally,
the investment will be extended over a long period of time. Large investments
are not likely to begin before 2016- 2017.”
Gazprom is first of all interested in gas fields in
Tanzania’s shelf. The country’s government has put out to tender licenses for 7
blocks in the deep-water shelf. The application period expires in the middle of
May.
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