Tanzania Hails First Gas Find in a Decade. The Operator's Filing Puts It a Bit Smaller

Tanzania has announced its first natural gas discovery in about a decade, at the Kasa-1X well in the Mnazi Bay area in the country's south, the BBC reported. Energy Minister Juma Homera attended a ceremony at the well and called the find a "major milestone" for the East African country's oil and gas sector.

The minister put the discovery at an estimated 223 billion cubic feet, or about 6.3 billion cubic meters, according to the BBC. The operator's own figure is somewhat lower. In its Oct. 22 activity report to investors, French oil company Maurel & Prom, which operates the Mnazi Bay license with a 60 percent working interest, estimated gas volumes "at approximately 200 bcf gross, or 120 bcf on an M&P working interest basis." The difference may reflect different estimation bases or dates; neither the government nor the company has explained it. The well is jointly owned with the state-owned Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation.

The company's filing describes an unusual well. Drilling began in June. "Drilled from onshore, the well reached a target located 4.5 kilometres offshore, beneath 400 metres of water," the report says. After the first penetration established the discovery, the company drilled a side-track that intersected 588 meters of reservoir. In a separate post, the company said the horizontal section was 1,100 meters long and that initial production test results are expected in November.

Production could start quickly because Mnazi Bay is already producing. Maurel & Prom said first production from Kasa-1X is "envisaged as early as November 2026," with expected gross potential of 50 million cubic feet per day. Two new wells, MB-5 and MS-2, brought on stream earlier this year, have raised current field output to about 130 million cubic feet per day, and processing facilities have been tested at 150 million.

Homera said the gas would go to domestic and industrial power generation and vehicles. "The discovery is important in ensuring the country has reliable, clean and safe energy at affordable costs, particularly at a time when demand is increasing due to industrial growth," he said. Natural gas accounted for nearly 80 percent of Tanzania's electricity generation in 2024, according to government statistics cited by the BBC, and the government has encouraged compressed natural gas for vehicles, especially in Dar es Salaam.

In context, the find is small. Tanzania's existing reserves are 57.54 trillion cubic feet, and its largest single discovery, in 2016, was 2.7 trillion cubic feet, the BBC reported. Tanzania's first gas discovery was at Songo Songo Island in 1974; Mnazi Bay followed in 1982, and commercial production began in 2004.

Not yet known: the results of November's production tests, which will indicate how much of the estimated gas can be recovered.