East Africa next investment attraction exploration and production companies
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3 East African countries Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania are set to be the next attraction for the exploration and production companies following recent mineral finds and infrastructure projects.
According to the East Africa Oil and Gas Outlook the recent oil and gas finds in these countries will end a 20+ period of relative status-quo on the continent that has seen most investments in the sector head towards north and West African countries.
The report says that E&P companies will by the end of a decade head towards the region despite low reserve sizes in the region so far as compared to their northern and western counterparts.
Kenya will have the eyes of the investors for more than just the recent oil discoveries but also the LAPSSET project that will see all the major exporters of oil in east African namely Uganda, Ethiopia and South Sudan rely on the Lamu port on the northern coast for exports.
LAPSSET which stands for the Lamu Port Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor project is estimated to cost $25.5 billion is Africa’s biggest infrastructure project to date and will incorporate a number of projects under oil and gas including an oil refinery in Kenya’s coast province and oil pipelines.
Mozambique is largely attractive its recent large gas discoveries that make it really a potential LNG exporter in the very near future.
Mozambique in 2013 discovered 150 trillion cubic feet of gas (among the largest discoveries that year) enough to supply Germany, Britain, France and Italy for 15 years.
Tanzania has also struck large gas deposits offshore and is now estimated to have more than 40 trillion cubic feet of gas that has also led to increased interest coupled with a port to be constructed at Bagamoyo.
The report says that the impact on the global oil and gas industry will be significant even should a single country achieve its goals.
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