The Tazama Pipeline, also Tanzania–Zambia Crude Oil Pipeline, is a long crude oil pipeline from the port of

Dar-es-Salaam Dar es Salaam (, ; from ) is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of the Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over 7 million people, Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa by population and the ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

, to the Indeni Petroleum Refinery in

Ndola Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia in terms of size and population, with a population of 627,503 (''2022 census''), after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development after Lusaka. It is the I ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

Location

The Tazama pipeline extends from the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

port of Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania to the industrial city of Ndola, Zambia, in the

Copperbelt Province Copperbelt Province is a province in Zambia which covers the mineral-rich Copperbelt, and farming and bush areas to the south. It was the backbone of the Northern Rhodesian economy during British colonial rule and fuelled the hopes of the imme ...

, close to the border with the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. The pipeline travels approximately 1060 miles (1,710 kilometers). For the pipeline has a diameter of , and for the remaining , the pipeline diameter is . According to the map at the pipeline website, the pipeline passes through or near the following cities and towns: Dar es Salaam,

Morogoro Morogoro is a city located in the eastern part of Tanzania, approximately 196 kilometers (122 miles) west of Dar es Salaam. Retrieved on November 24, 2011. It serves as the capital of the Morogoro Region. Informally, it is referred to as ''Mji ...

, Epass,

Iringa Iringa is a city in Tanzania with a population of 202,490 () and situated at a latitude of 7.77°S and longitude of 35.69°E. The name is derived from the Hehe language, Hehe word ''lilinga'', meaning fort. Iringa is the administrative capita ...

Mbeya Mbeya is a city located in south west Tanzania, Africa, with an urban population of 649,000 in 2023. Mbeya is the capital of the surrounding rural Mbeya Region, Mbeya region (population, with Mbeya, totals approx. 2 million). Mbeya is situated a ...

Chinsali Chinsali is a town in Zambia, which is both the district headquarters of Chinsali District and provincial headquarters of Muchinga Province. Location It lies just off the road between Mpika and Isoka ( Tanzam Highway; Zambia's Great North ...

, Mpika, Kalonje and Ndola.

Overview

The Tazama Crude Oil Pipeline was constructed to transport crude oil from the port of Dar-es-Salaam into landlocked Zambia, at an affordable, sustainable economic cost. When installed in 1968, the pipeline had a carrying capacity of annually. By 2002, carrying capacity had deteriorated to annually. Associated infrastructure owned by Tazama in Tanzania, includes the tank farm in Dar es Salaam consisting of six storage tanks onshore, which comprise three tanks of capacity combined and three tanks of combined capacity of . There are seven pump stations in total between Dar-es-Salaam and Ndola; five stations in Tanzania and two in Zambia.

Ownership

The pipeline is owned and operated by a company called ''Tazama Pipelines Limited'', with headquarters in Ndola Zambia and an office in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. TAZAMA stands for Tanzania Zambia Mafuta. "Mafuta" means "Oil" in

Kiswahili Swahili, also known as as it is referred to in the Swahili language, is a Bantu language originally spoken by the Swahili people, who are found primarily in Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique (along the East African coast and adjacent littoral i ...

. The table below illustrates the shareholding in the shares of stock of Tazama Pipelines Limited.

Operation

Due to age and lack of regular maintenance, the Tazama pipeline suffers corrosion and develops leaks from time to time. Repair of those leaks is necessary to avoid

environmental degradation Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

. Due to inability by Tazama Pipeline and Indeni Petroleum Refinery to supply all the refined petroleum products that Zambia requires, in the desired quantities, the government of Zambia and that of Tanzania, are contemplating building a refined petroleum products pipeline at an estimated cost of US$1.5 billion. No timeframe has been given.

References

External links

Official Website

As of 25 September 2023. {{coord, 13, 02, 26, S, 28, 40, 48, E, display=title Infrastructure completed in 1968 Oil pipelines in Tanzania Oil pipelines in Zambia Tanzania–Zambia relations 1968 establishments in Tanzania 1968 establishments in Zambia