By JANETH MESOMAPYA

Minister of Energy Dr. Medard Kalemani, has met and held talks with the Board of Directors of the Petroleum Regulatory Authority (PURA). The Minister was wrapping up a special training provided to the Board, in Tanga region.

Speaking when welcoming the Minister, the Chairman of the Board, Professor Gasper Mhinzi stated that they are committed to ensuring that PURA fulfills its responsibilities in accordance with the Petroleum Act in bringing productivity to the oil and natural gas sub-sector in the country.

In his talks with the Board, Minister Kalemani commended the Board for the good work it is doing to manage PURA and ensure it works professionally and efficiently despite the existence of various human and other human resource challenges.

At the same time, he has instructed the Board to ensure that PURA adds strength to exploration of oil and natural gas activities in the country.

"Let us work hard to discover oil, Tanzanians want oil," he added.

Dr. Kalemani also directed the Board and Management to strengthen the management of local content in the upstream activities in accordance with the Local Content Regulations.

Lastly, he concluded the training and appealed to its beneficiaries, to ensure they use the education they received to improve their performance while emphasizing "the issues you have learned are very important in understanding both the direction of the industry and of government."

For her part, the Vice Chairman of the Board, Ms. Beng’i Issa thanked the Minister for closing the training and promised him on behalf of the Board, to implement all the directives he has issued to increase productivity in the oil and natural gas sector.