TPDC to construct six oil storage facilities in Kigamboni

Dar es Salaam. The Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) plans to revive its oil storage capabilities by renovating an existing tank and constructing six additional ones.

The initiative aims to ensure the country has sufficient oil reserves to mitigate the impact of market price fluctuations on consumers.

The move is in line with the government's directive to ensure TPDC fulfills its national responsibility by maintaining adequate oil reserves.

The six new tanks, to be built in Kigamboni in Dar es Salaam, will have a combined storage capacity of 162,000 tonnes of oil, whereby the tender was already announced and the whole process would take 20 months.

Speaking Friday, June 7, 2024, the TPDC board chairman, Mr Ombeni Sefue, addressed members during their visit to the Tanzania International Petroleum Reserves (Tiper) in Kigamboni that the purpose of the visit was to inspect oil tank number eight including other ongoing activities within the area.

“Today, the TPDC board has visited Kigamboni to observe the areas where oil business and sales were conducted in the past. Although that business has since ceased, the infrastructure remains crucial for fulfilling our national responsibility to ensure sufficient oil reserves in the country,” he said.

He noted that the visit aimed to inspect tank number eight which was built in 1993 and operated for six years before being closed down in 2000.

Explaining the reason for the closure, he said that after the business entered the open market, it was found to be unprofitable and thus was outsourced to the private sector.

He mentioned that the initiative marks the beginning of constructing additional tanks in other regions.

“Our responsibility is to ensure the availability of oil. Those who set the price depend on the world market, but we believe that if we have sufficient reserves, we can manage even when the world market fluctuates," he said.

For his part, the TPDC's Oil Trade Manager, Mr Baraka Nyakutonya, said they plan to build the six tanks in the area and the process has already begun, with tenders having been announced and several companies showing interest.

He further elaborated that on June 3 of this year, some companies visited the site for inspection, and on June 17, they will announce the open tenders to proceed with the next steps.

Mr Nyakutonya highlighted that tank number eight has a storage capacity of 46,000 tonness of fuel, and the new tanks will help bring services closer to the people.