In December, Swiss oil and gas product supplier Oryx Energies completed the construction of a new liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder filling and storage depot in Tanzania’s capital, Dodoma. This marked the end of a key phase of investment in new and upgraded LPG facilities across the country over a period of 18 months.

Oryx, a participating sponsor of the 2017 Investing in African Mining Indaba, noted that the decision to establish this depot in Dodoma coincided with the Tanzanian government’s decision to move all Ministries from the previous capital, Dar es Salaam.

LPG is produced as a by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining. Since 2011, Tanzania has discovered about 50-trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas deposits, opening up several potential revenue streams for the East African country. In February last year, news agency Reuters reported that an additional 2.17 tcf of natural gas was discovered at the Ruvu basin, near Dar es Salaam. The agency noted that East Africa had become the new hot spot for hydrocarbon exploration following discoveries of substantial deposits of oil in Uganda and major gas reserves in Tanzania and Mozambique.

Apart from the Dodoma depot, Oryx has built LPG cylinder filling and storage depots in Iringa, Tanzania and Zanzibar, which is a semiautonomous part of Tanzania. The three depots have a combined storage capacity of 175 t.

The company has also extended its existing Tanzanian depots in Mwanza, Isaka, Moshi, Kurasini and Mbeya, increasing storage space by a further 480 t and growing cylinder filling capacity. All of the facilities have been designed and built to meet the requirements set by national and international safety standards.

“Our investments in LPG facilities in Tanzania . . . aim to ensure that LPG is readily available to households and industries in every corner of the country,” comments Oryx country director for Tanzania Nick McAleer. “Our aim is to give families access to a cost-effective and cleaner way of cooking. This will help protect their health and the country’s forests, as they move away from using charcoal and firewood.”

The company states that cooking with LPG is easy and offers a safer, healthier and more ecological alternative to firewood and charcoal. LPG is also priced competitively, compared with charcoal. “Similarly, for industry, LPG is an efficient power source, offering an attractive alternative to diesel or fuel oil,” McAleer adds.

Oryx has been present in Tanzania since 1999 and has over one-million cylinders in circulation and an extensive network of dealers. It has invested heavily in bulk LPG storage facilities in Dar es Salaam, as well as a series of upcountry depots and filling plants, to ensure a reliable supply to businesses and consumers across the country. A second LPG sphere is under construction.

The company has been promoting LPG in sub-Saharan Africa for over 15 years as a cleaner, healthier and more environment-friendly alternative to firewood, charcoal and kerosene. It has accelerated investments in recent years, supporting the increased awareness and willingness of governments to take action in the fight against deforestation and to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

The Mining Indaba will be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from February 6 to 9