Uganda and Tanzania have agreed to carry out a feasibility study for a pipeline linking gas fields to the former, Reuters highlighted.
Tanzania has an estimated 57.5 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas and uses some of it to produce 64% of the 1,872 MW electricity on the grid, according to the ministry of energy. Uganda has an installed generating capacity of about 1,500 MW reliant mainly on hydropower and is moving to diversify its sources of electricity.
Tanzania is currently awaiting cabinet approval for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project after completing negotiations in May with Equinor, Shell and Exxon Mobil. The project would unlock a natural gas deposit of more than 36 trillion cubic feet.
Tanzania's Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Doto Biteko said the signing of the agreement for a pipeline feasibility study followed a Memorandum of Understanding dating back to 2018.
Together with France's TotalEnergies and China's CNOOC, Uganda and Tanzania are also developing a 1,445-kilometre-long pipeline to transport Ugandan crude oil to Tanzania's Indian Ocean coast.
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has in the past said he is keen to use the oil pipeline corridor to import natural gas from Tanzania.
Uganda and Tanzania discuss new gas pipeline possibilities
