Tanzania to host 2025 petroleum conference

Arusha. Tanzania will once again showcase its potential for investments when it hosts the 11th East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition next year.

The forum, to be organised by the East African Community (EAC), will take place from March 5 to 7 at a venue to be announced later.

The 2025 edition, set to attract over 1,000 delegates, aims to highlight the region’s petroleum potential and investment opportunities.

“Expectations are high for the event,” the EAC secretariat said in a statement on the event which was last held in Uganda last year.

Over the past two decades, the biennial EA petroleum conferences have served as crucial platforms for dialogue among governments and industry players on exploitation of hydrocarbon resources.

Next year’s edition is themed ‘Unlocking investment in Future Energy; the Role of Petroleum Resources in the Energy Mix for Sustainable Development in East Africa’.

A meeting of the Regional Steering Committee which comprised experts from around the region in Zanzibar last week marked the official commencement of preparations.

The deputy permanent secretary in the ministry of Energy, Dr James Mataragio, is the chairperson of the Regional Steering Committee.

“Tanzania is not only ready but excited to host the Petroleum Conference in 2025, and we call upon all partner states to join hands with Tanzania to ensure we have a successful event,” he said.

EAC director of Productive Sectors Jean Baptiste Havugimana said EAPCE’25 success will reaffirm the region’s dedication to integration.

The EAC petroleum conferences have been held since 2003 on rotation basis across the region with Tanzania having hosted them at least twice – in Arusha.

The EAC sees the conferences as being aligned with its Vision 2050 for petroleum investments for sustainable supply of energy resources.

According to the EAC, the 2025 edition also aims to bolster the region’s competitiveness in production, trade and investments in the oil and gas sector.

EAC Vision 2050 envisions a sustainable, affordable and secure energy mix to meet regional needs, notably in accessibility.

This would enable the bloc to transform its energy landscape, ensuring efficient distribution of petroleum products and strategic reserves.

Since its inception, the East African Petroleum Conferences have fostered awareness of the region’s petroleum potential and technological advancements.

Seen as pariah states in petroleum production until a few years ago, the East African region is now the magnet of international investors in gas and oil resources.

While South Sudan has been one of the oil producing countries in Africa for years, its southern neighbour Uganda will soon start drilling for petrol in Lake Albert basin.

Tanzania has been tapping natural gas from its huge offshore resources in the Indian Ocean and will soon start exporting gas to its neighbours.