The Petroleum Upstream Regulatory Authority (PURA) met with the operator of the Mnazi Bay Block (Maurel et Prom Exploration Production Tanzania Ltd – M&P ) to discuss a project for drilling three natural gas wells expected to be carried out early in 2025.

The parties met on September 30, 2024, at the PURA offices in Dar es Salaam under the chairmanship of PURA.

In attendance to the meeting were Mr. Simon Nkenyeli, who is the Manager of Exploration and Production at PURA, and the M&P’s General Manager, Mr. Sylvain Pichelin.In that meeting, M&P provided clarification on the proposed project budget, an important step before PURA authorises expenditure. The project is expected to cost 80.2 million US dollars.

Of the three wells, two (MB5 and MS2) will be production wells (infill), while one (Kasa) will be an exploration well.

As of now, the environmental impact assessment for the project has been completed and the compensation for project affected people is expected to begin soon after verification exercise is finalized.

PURA and M&P also discussed about the participation of Tanzanians and Tanzanian service providers in that project.

In this area, PURA directed M&P to ensure compliance with the local content legal and regulatory requirements. In addition, PURA stated that it is closely monitoring every step of the project's implementation to ensure that Tanzanians and Tanzanian service providers are fully involved.

The Mnazi Bay Block has five wells that produce natural gas at an average of 74.24 million standard cubic feet per day (for September 2024).

The partners of that block located at Mtwara Distric Council is M&P (the operator) with60% participating interest in production activities, and TPDC with a 40%.

The drilling of the aforementioned wells will enable the field to maintain production plateau and facilitate the availability of more geological data regarding the reservoir in that block.