Tanzania steps up its Rift Valley oil hunt, raising hopes, fears in East Africa

FRIDAY January 2, 2026

By Adam Ihucha

The Tranquility News Correspondent, Tanzania

Tanzania has launched the second phase of oil and gas exploration on its Eyasi–Wembere Basin – a vast stretch of the country’s northern Rift Valley – as East Africa seeks to cement its reputation as a new hydrocarbons frontier following major discoveries in Uganda, Kenya and Mozambique.

The state-run Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) said the new phase – officially kicked off at Endeshi Village in Karatu District – would focus on acquiring fresh seismic data across the Eyasi–Wembere block – a 23,000-square-kilometre area that runs close to the Kenyan border.

Exploration in the basin began in 2015, but officials and geologists say renewed momentum reflects both improved technical understanding of the geology and growing regional interest in onshore prospects.

“This basin has characteristics that suggest it could host significant oil and gas accumulations,” TPDC geophysicist and Project Manager Sindi Maduhu said, adding that the project links districts across five regions of northern and central Tanzania.

Explosives replace trucks

Unlike the first phase, which relied on specialised vibration trucks to generate seismic signals, the second phase will use controlled explosives in and around Lake Eyasi as the seismic source.

Contractors are expected to survey about 914 kilometres of two-dimensional seismic lines, data that will be analysed to map potential hydrocarbon traps beneath the surface.

The work has been contracted to Africa Geophysical Services (AGS), a Tanzanian-owned firm. AGS project manager Vincent Evance said preparations included assembling boats to allow teams to move across the shallow soda lake during installation of the explosives.

More than 500 Tanzanians have been recruited for the operation, many of them young people from nearby villages such as Endeshi and Matala. For residents like Joseph Lukumay, a father of two employed on drilling-related activities, the project has already made a difference.

“It has enabled me to take care of my family needs, including education,” he said.

Local content under scrutiny

The Petroleum Upstream Regulatory Authority (PURA) said it was closely monitoring the project to ensure compliance with Tanzania’s National Energy Policy and Petroleum Act, both adopted in 2015, with a particular focus on local content.

“As exploration is still underway, our main objective is to ensure local communities are fully engaged through direct and indirect employment opportunities,” said Josephine Jumanne, geophysicist at PURA.

Beyond employment, the regulator is tasked with coordinating with other government agencies, overseeing licences, and ensuring national companies and suppliers benefit from upstream petroleum activity.

Regional stakes

Interest in East African hydrocarbons was ignited by Uganda’s oil discovery in 2006, followed by Kenya’s in 2012 and major offshore gas finds in Tanzania and Mozambique. According to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ report, six of the world’s 10 largest recent oil and gas discoveries have been in Africa, which is estimated to hold around 130 billion barrels of untapped crude.

Mozambique and Tanzania, the report said, helped to put East Africa firmly on the global energy map. Tanzania alone is estimated to have more than 55 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas offshore, enough to support domestic energy needs and exports for decades.

Yet the region’s experience also highlights challenges ahead. Uganda, which holds an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of oil in the Albertine Rift, has seen commercial production repeatedly delayed by infrastructure disputes and financing hurdles.

Indigenous fears

In Eyasi, optimism about potential energy wealth is tempered by concern among indigenous communities. The basin is home to the Hadzabe, one of Africa’s last remaining hunter-gatherer groups, with a population of about 1,500 who depend largely on wild fruits, honey and game.

For centuries, the remote Eyasi area served as a Hadzabe stronghold. But conservation policies have already restricted access to much of their ancestral land, now designated as national parks or farmland. Community advocates fear that successful oil or gas discoveries could trigger further displacement.

“The pressure on their traditional way of life is already severe,” said one local rights campaigner, noting that hunting and foraging have been curtailed in neighbouring protected areas such as the Serengeti and Ngorongoro.

TPDC and regulators say environmental and social safeguards will be enforced, but acknowledge that any future development would require careful balancing of national economic ambitions with the protection of vulnerable communities.

For now, Tanzania’s renewed push in the Eyasi–Wembere basin underscores both the promise and the complexity of East Africa’s hydrocarbons boom – offering jobs and investment on one hand, while raising difficult questions about land, livelihoods, and who ultimately benefits from the region’s underground wealthΩ