Tanzania: 223 billion cubic feet of gas discovered in Mnazi Bay, the first find in ten years

Tanzania has announced the discovery of 223 billion cubic feet of natural gas in the Mnazi Bay block, in the Mtwara region in the south of the country. It is its first new gas discovery reported in more than ten years, reports the Tanzanian daily The Citizen in its October 27, 2026 edition.

The deposit was located at the Kasa-1X ST2 well. The Minister of Energy, Juma Homera, sees it as a major milestone for the Tanzanian oil and gas sector, according to Africanews. The well is jointly owned by the state-owned Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation and the French energy group Maurel & Prom.

A country already powered by gas

The announcement is all the more significant as natural gas already accounts for nearly 80% of Tanzania's electricity production, Africanews specifies. Each new proven volume therefore has a direct impact on household bills and the ability of industries to operate without power cuts. The authorities state that this discovery will help provide more reliable and affordable energy as demand increases.

Production is expected by the beginning of November 2026, according to Africanews, which indicates that it will supply homes, industry, and vehicles. The timeline between the announcement and the start of operations is therefore very short, a sign that the well is connecting to facilities already in service in the Mnazi Bay area.

The real question: who captures the value

For Tanzania, the find comes after a long period without an announcement of this magnitude. It recalls an equation known to all producing countries on the continent: a deposit is only valuable to a population if the contracts, taxation, and processing infrastructure keep the value locally. The sharing between an African public company and a foreign operator is precisely where this value is decided.

The details of the shares held by each of the two partners in this well, the drilling depth, and the recoverable volumes are not included in the information published at this stage. The Ministry of Energy has also not communicated an estimate of the revenue expected for the Tanzanian state.

The country has also initiated discussions on a larger-scale gas project, mentioned by Africanews in mid-October 2026, the terms of which have not been made public. The question of local gas processing, rather than its raw export, remains a challenge for Dar es Salaam as it does for other African producers.