Tanzania has assured Britain's Ophir Energy and a unit of
Singapore's Temasek Holdings that their proposed $1.3 billion asset sale of
natural gas fields in the East African nation will proceed smoothly and get
timely approval.
Ophir said last month it would sell a 20 percent
shareholding in Tanzanian Blocks 1, 3 and 4 to Pavilion Energy, owned by
Singapore state investor Temasek, for an initial $1.25 billion plus a further
contingent consideration of $38 million.
On his Twitter feed Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete said
he assured Pavilion and Ophir Energy that the government would smoothly
facilitate the transaction of the shares.
He also promised timely approval from the relevant Tanzanian
authorities.
The Twitter posting came following a meeting between
President Kikwete and CEO’s from both companies.
Tanzania is pushing to start natural gas exports to its east
African neighbours by 2015 before selling its gas in global energy markets by
2020.
It is also looking at building a facility to export
liquefied natural gas (LNG), similar to those developed by the world's biggest
gas exporter Qatar, and may locate it in the southern Lindi region by 2020.
The Tanzanian fields that Ophir discovered with its partner
BG Group are estimated to hold 15 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Tanzania is estimated to have more than 40 trillion cubic
feet (TCF) of gas, which it said could rise five-fold over the next five years,
putting it on par with some Middle East producers.
It already uses it locally for power production and firing industries like cement, textile and glass manufacturing, breweries and steel mills.
