Both countries intend to be able to transport five million tons of crude oil annually through the pipeline.

The pipeline, built in 1968, can no longer meet the needs of Tanzania and Zambia as it only has a transport capacity of 800,000 tonnes of crude oil. Modernisation is therefore necessary.

As the Tanzanian newspaper The Citizen reported, Davison Thawethe, managing director of Tanzania Pipeline Limited, said the cost of the renovation would be determined through the study.

“We have commissioned Norplan to carry out a feasibility study for the 1,710 km long pipeline. The company will start its work shortly and, among other things, determine how much the pipeline will cost,” he said.

The onshore product pipeline, with a maximum diameter of 12 inches, will start in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and end in the North West Province, Zambia, according to figures from GlobalData, which monitors more than 8,000 active and developing pipelines worldwide, Offshore Technology announced in an update in February.

This project is particularly important for Zambia as the country does not produce crude oil but relies on imports from the Middle East and Europe via the port of Dar es Salaam in the region bordering Tanzania. Since most of the oil is transported by road, distributing it to all parts of the country is a time-consuming and costly undertaking.

For many years, crude oil has been transported for further processing through the 1,710 km long TAZAMA pipeline from the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to the Indeni oil refinery in the city of Ndola in Zambia.

According to the Zambian authorities, the new plant will have more modern specifications than the TAZAMA pipeline.