According to acting Managing Director Kapuulya Musomba, the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corp believes the natural-gas pipeline to Uganda will start in 2021.
Musomba said in an interview in Tanzania’s commercial hub, at least 29 companies have shown interest in conducting a feasibility study and constructing the pipeline that will pump gas to western Uganda to power iron and steel factories.
“By June next year we expect the feasibility study to be concluded,” he said on the sidelines of an oil and gas conference. Funding will be sought in 2019 and 2020 and then construction will start in 2021,” said Mr. Musomba.
TPDC set an August 24 deadline for submission of tender documents to conduct the study. Uganda and Tanzania have already signed an agreement for the pipeline that will start in Dar es Salaam through Tanga port on the Indian Ocean and Mwanza, a port city on Lake Victoria, before crossing to Uganda.
The two nations plan an individual pipeline to transport Uganda’s crude oil to Tanga port. Tanzania is positioning itself to become an energy hub within a decade and also has plans to supply gas, of which it has about 57 trillion cubic feet of proven reserves, to other East African nations.
Musomba said “About 10 to 15 regions in East Africa will benefit from the pipeline that will also serve as a catalyst for oil and gas exploration,”