Statoil has been in Tanzania since 2007 and has an office in Dar es Salaam.

In 2007 Statoil signed a production sharing agreement (PSA) for Block 2 with Tanzania Petroleum Cooperation (TPDC).

Statoil Tanzania AS is the operator with 65% working interest with ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Limited as a partner with 35% interest.

The total area of Block 2 is 11,099 square kilometres, and lies in water depths of between 400 and 3,000 metres. This is a frontier area where no wells had been drilled before 2010.

Statoil’s first well in Tanzania, Zafarani-1 was drilled in early 2012 proving a discovery of up to 5 Tcf (trillion cubic feet) of gas.

Statoil is currently (as of May 2012) drilling the Lavani prospect, the second well in Block 2.