Webinar - Oil and Gas Investments and Development in Tanzania and Mozambique

Exploring the nexus between oil and gas investments and development in Tanzania and Mozambique

• Register here for the webinar!
• Check out the concept note!

AFRODAD co-hosts this webinar to officially launch two papers and to facilitate a focused policy discussion on the findings, implications and possible pathways forward. The two policy papers, Exploring the Nexus Between Oil and Gas Investments and Development in Mozambique and Exploring the Nexus Between Oil and Gas Investments and Development in Tanzania, examine how political economy dynamics and debt pressures interact with major oil and gas investments in these two countries. Both Tanzania and Mozambique have attracted significant foreign direct investment following large natural gas discoveries. While these developments have generated optimism about economic growth and future revenues, the research presents a more cautious picture.

The papers show that oil and gas projects in both countries continue to operate largely as enclaves, with limited linkages to the wider domestic economy and few meaningful spillover effects. They also highlight growing debt pressures, often shaped by expectations that future resource revenues will resolve fiscal constraints. At the same time, institutional weaknesses and governance gaps create space for rent-seeking and elite capture. In resource-hosting regions, inequalities have widened, with instances of community displacement and rising social tensions. The continued expansion of fossil fuel investments also raises important questions about how these strategies align with national climate commitments and the broader shift toward a just energy transition. In both Tanzania and Mozambique, oil and gas investments have therefore not yet translated into structural transformation or inclusive growth. Concerns remain around debt sustainability, equitable benefit sharing, local content implementation, conflict dynamics and policy coherence in the context of the energy transition.

Objectives of the webinar

Overall Objective: To officially launch the two policy papers, Exploring the Nexus Between Oil and Gas Investments and Development in Mozambique and Exploring the Nexus Between Oil and Gas Investments and Development in Tanzania and foster interactive discussions on the development, debt and governance implications of oil and gas investments in the two countries. 

Specific Objectives:

1. To examine and unpack the key findings of the two papers with a focused view on the relationship between oil and gas investments and debt dynamics and in Tanzania and Mozambique.
2. To examine how expectations of future natural resource revenues are shaping public borrowing patterns and fiscal risk in resource-rich economies.
3. Formulate concrete, multi-stakeholder recommendations for African governments, industry, civil society and international partners to move from mere transparency to genuine accountability in leveraging mineral wealth.

Register here for the webinar!

Check out the concept note!