Tanzania is planning to build a pipeline to supply natural gas to neighbouring Uganda, as it looks to export some of the huge offshore gas reserves discovered in recent years, Reuters reported. This is the latest move to deepen commercial ties between Tanzania and Uganda, which said in April that it would ship its crude oil via a pipeline through Tanzania to Tanga port.

“Several east African countries have asked to buy gas from Tanzania…

to start with, the (Tanzanian) government plans to build a gas pipeline to Uganda,” Tanzania’s Energy and Minerals Minister,  Sospeter Muhongo, said in a statement.

According to All Africa, the Minister confirmed that it would be parallel to the oil one, and technical experts from Tanzania and Uganda are discussing the structure of the project and the implementation plan. “The team includes experts in almost all fields: economics roads and construction, land, port development, oil and gas, water resources and marine engineering,” Muhongo said.

Tanzania announced last February it has discovered an additional 2.

17 tcf of possible natural gas deposits in an onshore field, raising its total estimated recoverable natural gas reserves to more than 57 tcf. In addition, substantial oil deposits were found in Uganda and major gas reserves were discovered also in Mozambique bringing East Africa is a new hotspot for hydrocarbons exploration.