By Janeth Mesomapya

Acting Director General of the Petroleum Upstream Regulatory Authority (PURA) Engineer Charles Sangweni met and held talks with journalists about the success and development of regulation and monitoring of petroleum upstream operations throughout the 60 years of independence of Tanzania mainland.

The press conference took place on Friday, November 19, 2021 at PURA's offices in Dar es Salaam as part of a special program by the Ministry of Energy to promote the achievements of the energy sector through its institutions as part of the national 60th independence anniversary commemoration.

During the conference, Eng. Sangweni noted that during the 60 years of independence in mainland Tanzania, much progress has been made in the oil and natural gas sub-sector. One of the benefits is the presence of 96 oil exploration wells drilled in the country, 44 of which natural gas was discovered.

Of the 96 drilled wells, 59 are onshore and 37 offshore. These wells are located in Ruvu and Mkuranga areas in Coast Region, Ntorya and Mnazibay in Mtwara region as well as Songo Songo in Lindi Region.

He also noted that Tanzania is proud of the discovery of natural gas totaling 57.54 trillion cubic feet, of which 10.06 trillion have been discovered onshore and 47.48 trillion offshore.

"This discovery of natural gas has enabled the use of natural gas as a source of energy, especially by generating electricity in factories, homes and automobiles, and so far the amount of gas produced contributes to about 60 percent of the electricity generated in the country," he added.

He cited other achievements being increased Tanzanians’ participation in the upstream activities by over 90 percent and improved audit activities in Profit Sharing Agreements (PSA) Contracts which have so far saved over 90 billion shillings.

Eng. Sangweni noted that mainland Tanzania should also be proud of the improvement of the country's regulatory, legal and institutional systems, with the Petroleum Act of 1980, the Energy Policy of 2015, the Petroleum Act 2015, and the Oil and Gas Revenue Management Act 2015 as well as the establishment of PURA, the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC).

He added that so far mainland Tanzania has 11 PSA contracts, of which three are in the production stage while eight contracts are in exploration stage.