Tanzania has revealed plans to commission a plant by 2025 to process as much as 11.1tcf of gas, Bloomberg reported. The East African country has at least 57tcf of natural gas reserves and plans to export at least 3.1tcf of natural gas to east and southern Africa in the 30 years through 2045 as global prices drop.

Tanzania’s Ministry of Energy projected that total demand will reach 32.5tcf of gas over three decades, with 8.8tcf going to power generation, according to Ecofin Agency. Currently, Tanzania utilizes about 33bcf/y to generate 711MW of electricity.

This comes as the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) announced that during the period between 2004 and 2015, the discoveries of natural gas saved the country over $7.4b since it doesn’t need to import fuels to generate electricity and heat, informed Esi Africa.

In related news, Egypt Oil&Gas reported early September that the Tanzanian government was set to become East Africa’s leading country in the exploration of oil and natural gas within the next decade. Tanzania’s Minister of Energy and Minerals, Sospeter Muhongo, had stated that through investments in acquiring knowledge in the sector the country could achieve the goal of being the first in oil and natural gas exploitation. He had added: “Since the sector is new in the country, we intend to have at least 500 trained experts in the area of oil and natural gas in 10 years’ time.”