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Saturday, May 17, 2014 

Tanzanians advised to scale up for gains in gas sector

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - Local investors have been advised to improve their capacity if they want to compete with foreign investors in the fast growing natural gas sector.

TOL Gases Limited Board Chairman, Harold Temu was recently speaking during the company’s annual general meeting in Dar es Salaam.

He said local investors must make sure they prepare themselves for the challenges that will come from foreign investors into this new promising industry. He said locals should make sure they have enough funds, adopt new technology and enough expertise.   

Temu told shareholders the company hit Tsh998 million (about $607, 991) profit after tax in 2013. This is a 5% increase compared with the previous year.

The company also recorded revenue of Tsh10.8 billion ($6.57 million), which was growth of 13% from Tsh9.5 billion and ($5.79 million) in the 2012 financial year.

However these results came amid difficult circumstances. “Operational challenges adversely affected higher performance of the new carbon dioxide wells at the new Ikama plant in Mbeya, owing to pressure drop from the just commissioned wells,” he said.

He said. “It meant the company could not apprehend its projected carbon dioxide production levels for the better part of six months last year.”

However, Temu said the problem was instantly resolved at the end of last year by way of drilling two new major wells that sustained the plant’s performance, to the expected capacity.

Another setback was the breakdown of the Aspen Plant reported during the last AGM. The company was forced to import liquid oxygen from the company’s competitors at a high cost, a move which was necessary to sustain customer demand.

“The plant has not yet returned to service, because the required spare parts have just been received and rehabilitation work has commenced,” he said.

TOL Gases is a leading manufacturer and distributor of industrial and medical gases in Tanzania. Among the products the company produce, include oxygen, compressed gas, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. 

It is public company listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange.

By Emmanuel Kisima, Saturday, May 17th, 2014