04 September 2012, Sweetcrude, DAR ES SALAAM – TANZANIA has postponed the launch of a much-anticipated deep-water licensing round originally scheduled for this month pending a parliamentary vote on a new gas policy in October.
The country is set to offer nine new deep-water blocks, including one ultra-deep permit, in its fourth licensing exercise that will focus on acreage to the south.
The latest round was due to be launched at a 13 September roadshow in Houston, with another to be held subsequently this month in Singapore and one in London in October, with a similar event scheduled for March in Arusha,Tanzania.
Bids were due to be submitted during a nine-month period that closes in the middle of May 2013, when the offers will be opened in Dar-es-Salaam.
However, state-owned Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation, TPDC, said in an undated statement that “the roadshow schedule will start again immediately after the parliamentary ratification” of the new gas policy, following the vote next month.
Completion of the bid round data package is though still on schedule and will be available for potential bidders by the end of this month, giving them more time to evaluate the blocks before the delayed round launch, TPDC stated.
A series of gas discoveries by BG Group and Statoil off Tanzania, along with similar finds off Mozambique, have stoked exploration interest in the emerging East Africa play.
