Natural gas production suspended over leaking pipeline

Kilwa. Production of natural gas has been suspended today, November 3, because of a leaking pipeline, which transports the energy from Somangafungu Island to Dar es Salaam.

Pan African Energy Tanzania (PAET) deputy managing director Bizinama Ntuyabaliwe confirmed that they have suspended production to stop gas from flowing through the pipeline to avoid further leakage.

 “Our experts were cleaning the Songas pipeline, but unfortunately, the pipeline started leaking the natural gas, so we have decided to stop production until the problem is fixed,” he said.

He said there was no casualty or damage to the plant or pipeline reported.

“If there will be demands for gas by the Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (Tanesco), we will use the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) facility as we continue fixing the problem,” he said.

Songas Tanzania Limited, which operates the pipeline, said their experts were already working on the leakage, hoping to fix it before long.

Speaking with The Citizen yesterday, Songas Tanzania managing director Nigel Whittaker confirmed that the pipeline had a technical problem.

“It is true that the pipeline has experienced minor technical faults, but our technical team is fixing the problem. It’s fortunate that there was no explosion,” he said.

However, some Kilwa residents say they saw smoke billowing in the sky with sounds of blasts, causing panic among them.

Socio-economic activities were also halted as many people were running to the scene to witness what happened.