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DAR ES SALAAM, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Tanzania has held talkswith France's Total and Britain's BP over oiland gas exploration, its energy ministry said on Saturday,aiming to add to major companies active in its thriving energysector.
Companies already present in the east African state includeNorway's Statoil, Brazil's Petrobras, Royal Dutch Shell, BG Group and Exxon Mobil..
Total executives were in Tanzania's commercial capital Dares Salaam this week with Energy and Minerals Minister SospeterMuhongo, the ministry said.
"Total has expressed interest to explore for gas and oil inthe Lake Eyasi (open acreage area)," Muhongo said in astatement.
"We welcome competition and we would like many companies toparticipate in this sector," he added.
Muhongo has also held separate talks with BP officials,though he did not give details about when those talks were held.
In May, China's state-run offshore oil and gas producerCNOOC Ltd and Russian gas producer Gazprom also submitted bidsfor four of the eight oil and gas blocks Tanzania offered in itsfourth offshore licensing round.
East Africa is a new hot spot for energy companies aftersubstantial deposits of crude oil were found in Uganda and majornatural gas reserves were discovered off the coasts of Tanzaniaand Mozambique.
Tanzania estimates it has up to 53.2 trillion cubic feet(tcf) of recoverable natural gas resources off of its southerncoast, up from an earlier estimate of 46.5 tcf. (Reporting by Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala; Editing by Edith Honan andWilliam Hardy)
