Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), Tanzania Fertiliser Regulatory Authority (TFRA), and the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with PT ESSA Industries Indonesia Tbk to build a $1.3 billion natural gas-to-urea fertilizer manufacturing plant in the Mtwara Region.
The facility is set to begin operations in 2029 and will have an initial requirement of natural gas of 70 million standard cubic feet.
“We need to increase productivity in agriculture and industries,” said State Minister Kitila Mukumbo at the signing ceremony in the capital Dar-es-Salaam. “Because apart from food crop, our agenda is to go to industry-driven economy, so you can’t speak of industries without speaking of agriculture because 65% of raw materials used in industries come from farms, so there is no industrial revolution without agricultural revolution.”
Tanzania currently imports 87% of the fertilizer it applies. Once the plant commissions, it is expected that up to 40% of production will be exported to neighboring countries, contributing to improving self-sufficiency in East Africa, a region that – much like the rest of the continent – is heavily reliant on fertilizer imports.
“We intend to replicate this technology from Indonesia to Tanzania,” said Rahul Puri, Commissioner and Board Member of the Indonesian partner ESSA Industries. “Tanzania has immense natural gas. We learned from our own example in Indonesia where there are six different plants since the 1950s to make sure there is adequate urea in the country.”
Headquartered in Jakarta, PT Surya Esa Perkasa Tbk (ESSA) was founded in 2007 and it operates the largest private LPG refinery and ammonia plant in Indonesia. It produces 190 mt of LPG and 2,000 mt of ammonia per day.