Is Tanzania being cheated out of oil and gas revenue?

[bbahari]

Some of the world's biggest companies have signed deals with Tanzania, hoping to gain access to the huge reserves of oil and gas discovered in the Indian Ocean.


However, a leaked contract between the government and the Norwegian and American giants Statoil and ExxonMobil has sparked controversy.

NGOs and journalists claim the contract, signed in 2007 and amended in 2012, will give the government only 30-50% of profits instead of an expected 60-85%.

But Tanzanian ministers say they have driven a hard bargain on all Production Sharing Agreements to get the best deal for the Tanzanian people.

The government has also promised to train 300 people in the oil and gas sector to ensure it has the necessary skills.

With the IMF estimating that the country could make $5-6 billion every year, Tanzanians should be excited at their future prospects. But many fear their country could go the way of so many resource-rich African nations.

 

[kijereshi]

It's so unfortunate we are into another era of gas and oil without having adequate resource personnel to oversee the sector who will be there to safe guard our interest against resource hungry giants?Gold,diamond,tanzanite et al have left us as a nation with minimal or negligible tangible output now it remains to be seen what happened in mining would be imminent.

 

[satouqi]

Many new PSAs do include other long term development projects in the country such as infrastructure, educational, health in addition to the PSA's proceeds. Indonesia is a good example where they managed strike balanced terms & conditions.