This archive report was first published on 30 July 2019.
On July 19, 2019, the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) launched a call for investors to establish compressed natural gas (CNG) fuelling stations in the country.
The corporation aims to support trucking supply of CNG to retail stations located far from the pipeline infrastructure by establishing two large stations in Dar es Salaam.
According to TPDC, this is an opportunity for other participants in the natural gas value chain to buy CNG at wholesale price and resell it to end-users, specifically vehicle owners.
TPDC stated, "This is to enable scaling up of the gas utilisation potential in the transport sector by replacing costly and environmentally unfriendly diesel and petrol which are wholly imported."
The tender is open until August 19, 2019, and TPDC plans to extend the supply of CNG to locations where the stations will be built, if they are in proximity to the current pipeline infrastructure.
Tanzania currently supplies compressed natural gas for the transport sector and piped natural gas for the domestic, commercial, and industrial sector.
TPDC is developing gas supply infrastructures in Dar es Salaam, Mtwara, and Coast Regions, and the CNG plants at Ubungo for vehicles using both natural gas and normal gasoline.
TPDC noted, "For automobiles, CNG is cheaper and more eco-friendly than diesel or gasoline systems."
According to available data, around 100,000 hectares of forests are lost per year as many Tanzanians are heavily dependent on biomass.
