DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) has applied for a licence to explore for oil and gas in Tanzania, the east African country's energy ministry said in a statement late on Wednesday.
Tanzania has already made big gas discoveries offshore and is hoping to become a regional energy hub.
"China's CNOOC has shown interest in investing in oil and gas exploration in the country," Tanzania's energy and minerals ministry said in a statement.
"If granted a licence, the company will increase the number of firms searching for oil and gas in the country to 17."
The ministry said CNOOC had already applied for an exploration licence from the state-run Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC).
British gas firm BG Group, Norway's Statoil, Brazil's Petrobras, Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil Corp are among the companies already operating in Tanzania, which estimates it has more than 40 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable gas reserves.
Add new comment