TAZAMA pipeline a ticking time bomb

Poor state of the pipeline connecting the Single Point Mooring (SPM) terminal at the outer anchorage in Dar es Salaam, the Tanzania Italy Petroleum Refining Company Limited (TIPER) and Tanzania Zambia Mafuta (TAZAMA) is said to be a ticking time bomb, posing a threat not only to the environment but also people living in the vicinity.

Speaking to The Guardian in Dar es Salaam last week, TIPER Managing Director Vaughan Gipson said the pipeline would be closed for a short period to allow repair and improve its operations to avert disaster.

`We are working with the Tanzania Ports Authority to ensure that the seven kilometers of the pipeline, three of which are on the seabed and the rest overland, are repaired,` Gipson said.

Gipson said TIPER was installing a new pipeline between Kurasini Oil Jetty and TAZAMA, to be used as an alternative conduit during the repair.

He said the cost of repair of the inland pipeline was still under calculation.

Asked whether the closing of the pipeline would cause cutting off the flow of crude oil to Zambia and consequently shutting down the Indeni Refinery in Ndola, the TIPPER chief said the supply of crude oil to the Zambia refinery would not be interrupted.

Tazama is owned by Tazama Pipeline Limited jointly owned by the Governments of Zambia with 66.7 per cent and Tanzania 33.3 per cent.

The seven kilometer pipe was laid over 30 years ago.

Experts have identified leakages in some parts of the three kilometer stretch which is on the sea bed and on the other four kilometer stretch that is overland.

The new pipeline connecting Kigamboni Oil Jetty and TAZAMA is in its final stages of construction and would be operational by that time.

For a long time now, the Kigamboni SPM has raised concern among experts who were of the opinion that the pipeline had stayed for too long and ought to be replaced to avert a catastrophe.

However, major stakeholders seemed to take the matter lightly with each claiming they were not responsible for the problem.

Asked which steps his department had taken to solve the predicament, the Commissioner for Energy and Minerals at the Ministry of Energy Bashir Mrindoko said that the government of Tanzania was not responsible for the problem.

`Tanzania owns only one third of the pipeline, while the remaining part is owned by Zambia. I therefore advise you to contact officials at TAZAMA Pipeline Limited who would clarify the situation,` said Mrindoko over the telephone.

Asked to comment, a senior official for TAZAMA Pipeline Limited (Tanzania branch) said the company was only in charge starting from Kigamboni to Indeni in Zambia.

`It is true that two thirds of the pipeline belongs to us but the seven kilometer stretch belongs to both TIPPER and TPA,` the official said.

`We usually pay hundreds of thousands of US dollars to these companies when we off load petroleum products. We expect them to provide good services for the costs we incur,` said the TAZAMA Pipeline Limited official who preferred anonymity.

TAZAMA receives and stores crude oil from the SPM facility. The crude oil is later sent through a pipeline to Indeni in Zambia where it is refined.

TPA managing Director Ephraim Mgawe was earlier this month quoted by the media as saying that the pipeline was aged, saying his office was doing its best to improve the situation in order to avoid side effects which might happen if serious measures were not taken.

The Kigamboni SPM and TPA have already appointed a Dutch consulting firm, Royal Haskoning, which is due to complete its work in November this year.

According to Mgawe, a tender would be floated at the beginning of next year and once a contractor is known, he will start the construction projected to take two years.

TAZAMA is one of Africa�s most important crude oil pipelines, which stretches for about 1,710 km. It transports approximately 600,000 metric tones of crude oil per annum.

The onshore pipeline is 1,710 km in length from Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania) to Ndola (Zambia) with a mix diameter of 8 and 12 inches.

It was commissioned in 1968 and originally designed for a throughput of 1.1 million tones per year.

It is capable of handling approximately 600,000 metric tones per annum.

The Tanzania Port Authority supports the pipeline with its equipment and infrastructure, comprising a 36-inch diameter sub-sea pipeline and�3.3 km in length.