The government has been called upon to ensure that every Tanzanian is well informed on the pros and cones of the ongoing oil and gas exploration and development.

This is one of the policy recommendations based on the Tanzania oil and gas status study report, Publish What You Pay (PWYP) presented by the Tanzania Coalition to the Members of Parliament in Dodoma last week.

A statement issued by the Coalition yesterday in Dar es Salaam said the report makes eight policy recommendations derived from the analyses of the study findings.

“The Government should recognise oil, gas and minerals (extractive industries) as engine for national development to which the country vision must be anchored,” the statement said.

According to statement, the information package about oil and gas should be available, accessible and comprehensible to all Tanzanians enabling them to link their private and public development and investment plans to the ongoing oil and gas development plans as part of the national development vision.

In the statement, Tanzania possesses substantive quantities of natural gas but, it clarified, no oil has been found.

The country is recognised as having high hydrocarbons potential, nine gas fields are confirmed and the nation is not stopping short of finally putting an end to its power shortage nightmares.

Tanzania has now onshore fields on the Mnazi Bay, Mkuranga, Songo Songo and Kiliwani-North. The union also has offshore ventures with rig explorations in Pweza, Chewa, Chaza, Jodari and Zafarani.

The country boasts two fields in the production stream, in fact, by 2009, Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) confirmed 7.72 Trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas from the four rich areas – the Songo Songo harbours produced 1-2 Tcf, the Mnazi Bay one produced about 3-5 Tcf, with Kiliwani at a high of 70 Bcf, and Mkuranga topping it with 200 Bcf.

The latest offshore discoveries estimate natural gas findings up to 60 TCF and at least 20 Multinational Companies (MNC) are currently involved in oil or gas exploration or extraction in the country.

TPDC is both the regulator and investment partner in oil and/or gas investments on behalf of the government. It is the state corporation through which the Ministry of Energy and Minerals implements its petroleum exploration and development policies.