State-owned Tanzania Petroleum & Development Corporation is on the hunt for a contractor to shoot 3D seismic data in the country’s southern waters, writes Iain Esau.

The deadline for bids to be submitted is 30 April for a contract that will cover the acquisition and processing of 3D data in ultra-deepwater Block 4/1B.

TPDC said the offer documents will be opened in public “promptly thereafter”.

Block 4/1B and Block 4/1C, immediately to the east, are located in Tanzania's section of the Ruvuma basin and were reserved for TPDC so it could gain valuable deepwater experience as an operator, at least in the exploration phase.

In 2015, Ion Geophysical landed a contract to acquire about 4000 kilometres of 2D seismic data in the two blocks, along with gravity and magnetic data, on a multi-client basis.

Ion's data will be used to assist TPDC with a competitive farm-out process when exploratin drilling needs to be carried out.

The two blocks are located about 150 kilometres off the port of Mtwara and east of Shell's gas-rich Block 1.

Meanwhile, TPDC has received expressions of interest from consultancies covering implementation of the country’s local content strategy.

The government has received funding from the African Development Bank to help towards the cost of securing consultancy services to develop a local content implementation strategy.

This proposed strategy comes under the auspices of an in-country project covering “domestic resource mobilisation and natural resource governance.”

TPDC is handling the tender process on behalf of the National Economic Empowerment Council.

The successful consultancy will focus on the legal and regulatory framework, employment, technology transfer and procurement, and how to increase the capacity of Tanzanians to participate in investments.

Also to be developed for the local content strategy are vision and mission statements, baseline data and targets, budgets, monitoring and evaluation frameworks.

TPDC will shortly establish a shortlist and will then issue bid documents for a contract likely to last about six months.

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Tanzania seismic search