The United States Energy Information Administration report on Emerging Oil and Gas Developments in East Africa has identified Uganda, Madagascar, Mozambique and Tanzania to have shown the most progress toward commercial development of the newly discovered resources of oil and gas in the East Africa region in recent years.
According to the report, whereas Uganda and Madagascar are leading the pack in the commercial development of oil reserves and will most likely be the next new oil producers on the continent, Mozambique will probably be the first country in East Africa to develop the capability to export Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), followed by Tanzania
Although oil and natural gas exploration has been going on for decades in various countries in East Africa, there has been limited success until recently. In the past there were doubts about the amount of recoverable resources in the region, along with regional and civil conflicts that presented challenges and risks to foreign companies.
Consequently, exploration activities in East Africa have evolved at a much slower pace relative to other African regions. However, the pace of exploration activity has recently picked up after foreign oil and gas companies made a series of sizable discoveries in several East African countries.
This new regional analysis covers emerging developments in the oil and gas sectors in five East African countries: Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and Madagascar. The larger area that Energy Information Administration considers as East Africa includes 21 countries. In this region, by far the largest oil and gas producers are Sudan and South Sudan, which are not covered in this report because they are mature oil producers.
The report equally notes that although progress toward commercial development of hydrocarbon resources in Kenya has been modest, the country plays a vital role in the region as an oil transit hub, particularly for oil products coming into the region. But even then, Kenya is planning to expand its role by embarking on a multi-million dollar investment to increase its midstream and downstream capacity. Here is the full report.