Potential for regional use of East Africa’s natural gas

Recently, significant reserves of natural gas have been identified in Mozambique and Tanzania. These resources may support a pathway to both economic growth and a low-carbon future. This natural gas could be used locally for a host of different applications such as cooking, power generation, transportation and fertilizer production. The aim of this paper is to investigate how the potential future demand for natural gas across sectors and countries might impact the economic viability of an investment in a new regional transmission and distribution gas network in Eastern and Southern Africa. We analyze the economic viability by using future demand and pricing data inferred for biomass, charcoal, LPG and liquid fuels currently being used in the continent. The investment and transmission costs are assessed for various scenarios of transmission pipeline networks. Then, a detailed analysis for a gas transmission network across eight Eastern African countries is presented. Results suggest that the development of a regional gas pipeline network within the continent is an attractive investment (based on internal regional demand as well as co-benefits to economy, environment and health) that can complement LNG export, which is the dominant market option being considered to enable the large upstream investments.