THE government stands to gain under the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) entered between the state and Statoil Company, the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) has maintained.
Dismissing claims circulating in the local media that the government stands to lose billion of shillings annually under the PSA contract, outgoing TPDC Managing Director Yona Kilagane, said the country will gain more than the investor.
He noted that there is confusion between the PSA on Oil He said out of the total amount of natural gas discovered, 42.5 trillion cubic feet was discovered in deep sea while 8 trillion cubic feet were discovered onshore.
Acting TPDC Managing Director James Andilie, said the PSA documents were public property and anyone who wishes to get more information should visit the corporation’s offices or the Ministry of Energy and Minerals.
Recently, an alleged contract between the state and Statoil was leaked online, prompting analysts to say that the government stands to lose one billion US dollars a year.
Kigoma North Member of Parliament (MP) Zitto Kabwe had posted on social media networks what he said was the leaked PSA between TPDC and StatOil, saying the country stands to lose huge amount of money under the deal.
In his postings, Mr Zitto said that the ‘leaked document’ is not the PSA per se, but an addendum to the original PSA for Block 2 to take account of the fact that the discoveries are of natural gas, not oil.
In his analysis of the deal, Darblogger Ben Taylor@ mtega) argues that if the contract is fully implemented, the government could lose between 400 million US dollars (672 billion/-) and a whopping one billion US dollars (1.68 trillion/-) yearly.
exploration in which the state decided to include an addendum that will ensure the government earns its share if the company finds natural gas instead of oil.
Mr Kilagane explained that in 2005, the state proposed a 50 per cent share each to Statoil in case oil will be discovered for the first tranche.
“This was an offer to form a base for negotiations to take place but it was not an agreement. It was not an obligation to either party but an offer,” Mr Kilagane pointed out.
