Tanzania is back in the gas discovery business. Energy Minister Juma Zuberi Homera announced on Tuesday, October 27, that around 223 billion cubic feet of natural gas had been found in the Mnazi Bay block in Mtwara Region, in the south of the country. It is the first discovery of its kind since 2015.
The deposit was identified through the drilling of the Kasa-1X ST2 exploration well, carried out by the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) in partnership with French company Maurel & Prom. The state strengthened its position in the block in 2024, raising TPDC’s stake from 20% to 40%. That share now gives it more say in decisions and a larger slice of the revenue.
Production could follow quickly. Maurel & Prom expects first gas as early as November, with gross potential of 50 million cubic feet per day. The minister, for his part, puts output at around 30 million cubic feet a day for at least ten years. Two other wells recently drilled in the same block, MB-5 and MS-2, are already on stream and have lifted Mnazi Bay’s production to about 130 million cubic feet per day, according to the operator.
For Dar es Salaam, the stakes are primarily about energy. Natural gas accounts for nearly 80% of the country’s electricity generation, and Mnazi Bay supplies most of the fuel for TANESCO’s power plants in Mtwara and Dar es Salaam. The minister believes the discovery will strengthen energy security and help meet rising demand driven by industrial growth. It should also boost public revenue through the state’s share of profit gas under the production sharing agreement, TPDC’s earnings and taxes.
The announcement does need some perspective. Compared with the 57.54 trillion cubic feet of reserves the country has already identified, the 223 billion represent only about 0.4%. Maurel & Prom is also more cautious than the government, citing an estimate of roughly 200 billion cubic feet that it describes as preliminary and not yet classified.
The government nonetheless hopes the find will revive interest among both domestic and foreign investors. TPDC is reportedly already in talks with four investors about small-scale liquefied natural gas projects. It is a way for Tanzania to make the most of its resources without waiting for its large LNG project, which has yet to get off the ground.
