Introduction

Tanzania has so far made four discoveries of natural gas fields so far in the vicinities of Songo Songo Island (about 250 km South of Dar es Salaam in 1974), Mnazi Bay (about 450 km South of Dar es Salaam in 1982), Mkuranga (about 60 km South of Dar es Salaam in December 2007) and Kiliwani North (about 2.5 km South East of Songo Songo Island in April 2008). Only two gas fields, Songo Songo and Mnazi Bay are producing. Available data indicate that the proven and probable reserves in the Songo Songo gasfield are estimated at 810 billion standard cubic feet (BCF), while proven, the probable and possible reserves stand at 1.10 trillion standard cubic feet (TCF). The proven, the probable and possible gas reserves in Mnazi Bay vicinities are estimated at 2.2 TCF. Four entities are actively carrying out downstream natural gas regulatory activities, are Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), Songas Limited (Songas), PanAfrican Energy Tanzania Limited (PAT), and Maurel et Prom (M&P) (the company that took over the operatorship of Mnazi Bay Production Sharing Agreement from Artumas Group & Partners (Gas) Limited effectively from 1st December 2009). Only TPDC with passive roles is licensed, others are contractors operating on their behalf and on behalf of TPDC, as under licensed entities through several agreements between them.