TPDC WILL ON JULY 29 START TRIAL TESTS ON A NEW 542-KILOMETRE LONG GAS PIPELINE

Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) has affirmed that it will start trial tests this week on a new 542-kilometre long pipeline from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam for between 40 and 60 days.

The pipeline is expected to deliver higher volumes of natural gas for power generation and other applications.

“The gas processing plants and the natural gas pipeline will be ready for trial operation on July 29,” said TPDC managing director James Mataragio.

He said the Mtwara to Dar es Salaam pipeline will transport 80 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day in September and the capacity is expected to rise to 1,002 million standard cubic feet per day.

Exploration firms have discovered about 55.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in offshore and onshore southern Tanzania.

The construction of two processing plants at Madimba in Mtwara region and SongoSongo Island in Lindi region with a 36- inch natural gas pipeline from Mtwara through SomangaFungu to Dar es Salaam started in June 2013.

The Madimba village plant has two trains (processing units) and SongoSongo Island two trains to handle 350 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. The SongoSongo-SomangaFungu pipeline is 24 inches.

Initial production will be from the Mnazi Bay field wells in Mtwara. Total output of natural gas will increase to 130 million standard cubic feet per day in future. The SongoSongo field wells are expected to start producing 120 million standard cubic feet per day in October.

MrMataragio said the government wants natural gas to be used as a source of energy for generation of electricity, industrial applications, cooking in households and in vehicles as condensed natural gas.