Tanzania Oil & Gas: A Persistent Total strikes again

The Giant French Oil company Total didn’t lose heart and is now seeking a new license After coming up short on Lake Tanganyika in 2013. According to Africa Intelligence quoting its sources the head of Total for East Africa, Javier Rielo, met on Aug. 24 with Tanzanian mines and energy minister Sospeter Muhongo. Assisting the latter in the talks were around 15 executives from the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corp. (TPDC), including its new acting chief, James Andilile.

James, the minister, who said to be reasonably favourable to French interests, urged Total to submit a bid for the onshore permit of Lake Eyasi in the north of Tanzania which did not figure in the country’s latest licensing round.

However, Total isn’t alone in being interested in the license. BP has also been seeking it for several months and an encounter between its officials and TPDC is already set for December.

The Lake Eyasi permit had been operated by Swala Energy, Beach Energy Ltd (already active on Tanganyika South) and Adamantine Energy but TPDC took it back early this year because some companies pulled out of the consortium.

The block stirs interest because it is geologically similar to the Lokichar basin in the Turkana region in Kenya where Tullow Oil and Africa Oil have identified 600 million barrels of crude. Oil companies are looking for crude in northern Tanzania whereas only gas – and a lot of it – has been discovered in the country’s offshore.(Edited by The Post)