Like neighbouring Mozambique, Tanzania is going to become a major exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Gazprom, in turn, is interested in forming a base for supplies to the fast-growing Indian market, analysts believe.
Two weeks ago, Gazprom employees held a series of meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Tanzania, as well as the local state petroleum corporation TPDC, reported Gazprom International. They discussed the potential involvement of Gazprom in the new licensing round, which began in October 2013, during which the Tanzanian authorities tendered for licences for seven blocks on the deep water shelf, as well as land in the waters of Lake Tanganyika in the west of the country. Gazprom is "soon" going to study the geological information on these blocks and make a decision whether to participate in the tender. The deadline for applications for the tender expires in mid-May.
In Tanzania, as in neighbouring Mozambique, the continental shelf is the most attractive for the large international companies. Licences have already been allocated for 12 blocks adjacent to the coast: The development of blocks 1, 3 and 4 is undertaken by the British Consortium BG (60%) and Ophir Energy (40%), block 2 by the consortium Statoil (65%) and Exxon (35%). These four blocks are the most developed; at the end of last year their total resources were estimated at about 1 trillion cubic metres of gas. In addition, Shell, which owns licences for blocks 9, 10, 11 and 12 independently, and for blocks 5, 6 and 8 in partnership with Brazil’s Petrobras, shows great interest in the development of the Tanzanian shelf. The companies developing the first four blocks are going to build a liquefied gas plant with a capacity of 10 million tonnes of LNG per annum. But due to disagreements with the local authorities about the plant construction site, the investment decision on the project has been postponed and is not expected before 2016, and the start of deliveries in 2020. But potential buyers are already showing interest in the project: In November 2013 the Singapore investment company Temasek repurchased half its stake in blocks 1, 3, 4 from Ophir for $1.3 billion.
Gazprom had three projects in Africa – in Algeria, Libya and Nigeria, of which only the Algerian one can be considered successful. Since 2010 the JV of Gazprom (49%) and the Algerian Sonatrach (51%) have opened two oil and gas-bearing deposits on the El-Assel site with recoverable oil reserves of about 30 million tonnes, according to preliminary estimates. In Libya, exploratory drilling was interrupted by civil war and has still not been resumed, and in Nigeria it did not reach a practical application. According to Valery Nesterov from Sberbank Investment Research, there is nothing surprising in the fact that Gazprom was interested in Tanzania, since East Africa is now one of the most promising regions for gas production. "Tanzania is also conveniently located to export LNG to the most attractive markets of India and South-East Asia, and for Gazprom there is the possibility of creating a base for such deliveries," he believes. Earlier, a source at Gazprom said that the company thinks that the Indian market is more attractive in the long-term than the Chinese, but supplies go there only under the contract with Gail for 2.5 million t of SPG per annum, from "Sakhalin-2".
05 Февраля 2025 | среда | 15:47
