Francis Lupokela, the TPDC public relations officer, said yesterday that recoverable volumes of natural gas have been discovered at the Ntorya field, covered by the Ruvuma Petroleum Sharing Agreement for which the company holds the Mtwara natural gas exploration license.
Though the volume of discovered natural gas is yet to be announced to the public, exploration started in 2006 after the agreement was reached in 2005, with some initial discoveries being reported, he said at the 46th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair.
The firm expects to drill a well offshore and another onshore at the Ntorya development field, with the area being within the Mtwara gas block, a few kilometers from the Madimba gas plant. ARA Petroleum is conducting a three-dimensional seismic survey that will boost prospects of developing the Chikumbi-1 exploration well, he stated.
There are so far five natural gas processing plants countrywide, namely Pan African Energy (T) Ltd (PAET) Songo Songo plant processing 110m standard cubic feet per day, the Maurel & Prom plant at Mnazi Bay processing 10m cubic feet, while TPDC operates a Songo Songo plant processing 140m such units, TPDC Madimba plant processing 210m cubic feet, making a total of 470m units by late April.
TPDC’s natural gas plants fuelling the Tanzania Electric Supply Co. Ltd (Tanesco) grid generate 102.32 megawatts of electricity, amounting to 62 percent of the power source at TPDC, with other clients being 48 manufacturing and processing industries, 1,500 households, six public organisations in Dar es Salaam and Mtwara, a city hotel and around 1,400 vehicles converted to gas use in the city, he added.
