Tanzania | Africa Inc.

Sahara Tanzania expands petroleum product storage capacity to 72m liters

April 13, 2021April 13, 2021 Frank

TANZANIA – Sahara Tanzania Limited, a Sahara Group company, has expanded its storage capacity for petroleum products to 72 million litres in line with its commitment to promoting availability and reliability of top-quality products in Tanzania and other neighbouring African countries. “Since our Tanzania operations commenced in 2015, Sahara has expanded its infrastructure from 10 loading arms and 4 storage tanks with a combined storage capacity of 36 million litres to 20 loading arms with 8 storage tanks, with a combined capacity of 72 million litres, spurring economic development in…

Medical underwriter AAR Insurance to shut its Tanzania unit

April 6, 2021April 6, 2021 Frank

TANZANIA – Medical underwriter AAR Insurance has commenced the process of winding-up of its Tanzania business citing financial difficulties. The move comes just after the Kenyan business recorded a 55 per cent drop in performance for the year ended December 2020, attributed to high claims due to Covid-19 pandemic. In a memo to staff, AAR Health Care Limited Acting CEO Andrew Rowell said the firm has been facing financial difficulties “for some time” now worsened by the failure of the medical insurance model in Tanzania, the Covid-19 pandemic, and a…

SBI Motor Japan establishes its first office in Dar es Salaam

March 25, 2021March 25, 2021 Frank

TANZANIA – BSMO Company Ltd and SBI Africa Company Ltd have established the SBI Motor Tanzania office in Dar es Salaam, making it their first office in Africa. The group has also partnered with Saint Parts Company LTD to provide a free repair service for cars purchased from the SBI Motor website. This new service, according to a press release on March 24, 2021, aims at providing support for customers who are now required to inspect their vehicles locally. The new development comes as a result of the recent change…

Helium One to start drilling world’s rare gas in Tanzania

March 24, 2021March 24, 2021 Frank

TANZANIA – Helium One, Australian private company with a licence for helium gas exploration and development of the Rukwa Project in Tanzania, has announced the commencement of the acquisition of seismic data. The Rukwa project in south western Tanzania is described as the largest known primary helium resource in the world. Through its website the company announced that it has successfully mobilised a data acquisition team, and other equipment for the acquisition of the data which will be helpful in planning and monitoring the development and production. Helium One chief…

Tanzania secures US$245m loan from World Bank for phase 3 of Dar Bus Rapid Transit

March 19, 2021March 19, 2021 Frank

TANZANIA – The government of Tanzania has secured a total of US$245 million in loans from the World Bank for the construction of phases 3 and 4 of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), a senior official has revealed to The Citizen newspaper Phase Three of the BRT project involves the construction of infrastructure projects across the 23.6-kilometre stretch of Nyerere Road from Gongo la Mboto to City Centre and parts of Uhuru Road from Tazara to Kariakoo Gerezani while phase 4 involves the construction of a 16.1-kilometre stretch along Bagamoyo…

Oil and gas firm Aminex completes farm-out agreement with ARA Petroleum Tanzania

March 11, 2021March 11, 2021 Frank

TANZANIA – Africa-focused oil and gas company Aminex has completed the farm-out agreement with ARA Petroleum Tanzania Limited (APT) which has assumed operatorship of the Ruvuma PSA. Under the farm-out agreement, Aminex is carried for its share of the associated field development costs up to US$35million, equivalent to gross development expenditure of US$140 million. The joint venture partners agree that the acquisition of a high-resolution 3D seismic survey is of primary importance for the preparation of the field development plan. The new seismic will also deliver information that will be helpful in the final planning…

Tanzania planning to produce 200MW of geothermal power by 2025

March 9, 2021March 9, 2021 Frank

TANZANIA – The Tanzania Geothermal Development Company (TGDC), a subsidiary of the state-owned Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco), plans to accelerate the exploitation of Tanzania’s geothermal potential estimated at 5,000 MWe to produce 200 MWe of geothermal energy over the next four years. The plan is highly ambitious for Tanzania which has invested heavily in hydropower in recent years, notably the 2,100 MW Stiegler’s Gorge hydroelectric dam. The success of the plan proposed by the Tanzania Geothermal Development Company (TGDC) will certainly diversify Tanzania’s electricity mix as the public utility wants to…

Electricity supplier Tanesco readies to power Tanzania SGR operations

March 5, 2021March 5, 2021 Frank

TANZANIA – State power utility firm, Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (Tanesco) will supply 70 megawatts of electricity to power the first phase of the standard gauge railway (SGR), which starts operations in a few months’ time. Energy minister Medard Kalemani told the media that the construction of power lines between Dar es Salaam and Morogoro was complete and that Tanesco was ready to power the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) locomotives. “We have invested US$30.7 million in building the necessary power infrastructure for the first phase of the SGR. The project…

Energy company Equinor writes off US$922m Tanzania liquid natural gas project

February 20, 2021February 20, 2021 Frank

TANZANIA – State-owned Equinor ASA of Norway is writing off its US$982 million liquefied natural gas project in Tanzania (TLNG), as overall economics have not improved sufficiently to justify keeping it on the balance sheet. This will be reflected in adjusted earnings for EPI division in fourth quarter 2020 results. “Equinor will continue to engage Tanzania in negotiations on commercial, fiscal and legal frameworks that may provide a viable business case for TLNG in future,” said the firm’s senior vice president for investor relations Peter Hutton. Equinor, formerly Statoil, has…

OPEC Fund extends US$50m for poverty reduction in Tanzania

February 19, 2021February 19, 2021 Frank

TANZANIA – The OPEC Fund for International Development (the OPEC Fund) has signed a US$50 million loan with Tanzania to finance the ‘Fourth Tanzania Poverty Reduction Project’. The project will build rural infrastructure to boost economic opportunities and improve access to social services for more than 900,000 people. Although Tanzania has made progress in reducing poverty over the past decade, around 26 million people, close to half the total population live on less than US$1.90 per day. The Tanzanian government has launched a number of programs to tackle this…