4 nations to meet on L. Tanganyika oil

Dodoma. Four countries sharing the Lake Tanganyika basin will hold a meeting next week in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to discuss a joint exploration of oil and gas in the second deepest lake in the world.

The minister for Energy and Minerals, Prof Sospeter Muhongo, yesterday told the august House that there are traces of oil and gas in the lake, and the meeting is aimed at harmonizing exploration efforts and avoid conflicts over the resources. He said the meeting would take place in the DRC lake town of Kalemie and Tanzania will be represented by deputy minister for Energy and Minerals, Dr Medard Kalemani. The other two participating countries are Zambia and Burundi.

“Oil has been discovered in Lake Kivu, which is just to the north of Lake of Tanganyika; this is a big boost to us, and now more than ever before,we’re convinced that there might be oil and gas deposits in the lake. However, as we all know, there are four of us sharing the lake and we must sit down and discuss and execute the exploration activities together,” said Prof Muhongo.

The minister said that while responding to a follow-up question by Mr Daniel Nsazugwanko (Kasulu Urban-CCM) who wanted to know when the exploration activities would kick off in Lake Tanganyika and along the Malagarasi River. This comes as Tanzania and DRC already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for joint oil and gas exploration in and along Lake Tanganyika last October when DRC President Joseph Kabila visited Tanzania.

The MoU was signed by DRC Petroleum and Gas minister Ngoy Mukena and Tanzania’s Energy and Minerals minister Muhongo at the State House in Dar es Salaam.

“Oil has already been discovered in Lake Albert, and there’s a great possibility that there’s also oil in Lake Tanganyika.”