Zanzibar Petroleum (Upstream) Regulatory Authority

What Zanzibar Petroleum (Upstream) Regulatory Authority does

The Zanzibar Petroleum (Upstream) Regulatory Authority (ZPRA) is a statutory regulatory body under the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar. It operates from Zanzibar, Tanzania, and is responsible for overseeing petroleum upstream activities — exploration and production — in Zanzibar waters. The authority utilizes the official .go.tz government domain (zpra.go.tz) and is identified as a government state entity with a small operational footprint of 27 employees. As a statutory regulator rather than a commercial enterprise, ZPRA's function is governance, licensing oversight, and regulatory enforcement in the upstream oil and gas sector within its jurisdictional boundaries.

No commercial products, services, or technology platforms are disclosed in the available data. The authority does not maintain a public app, API, or SDK, and has no documented technology stack. Its 'business model' is governmental: budget allocation from the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, funded through public-sector fiscal mechanisms rather than commercial revenue. No customer segments, pricing models, or distribution channels are applicable in the traditional commercial sense, as ZPRA's 'customers' are the petroleum operators and stakeholders it regulates.

The source material indicates an active operating status with a publicly accessible website, but provides no specific historical narrative, founding date, governance structure, leadership roster, or specific operational milestones. No management team, partnerships, awards, certifications, or strategic transactions are disclosed. The absence of these data points constrains deeper analytical granularity on organizational capacity, regulatory throughput, or sector developmental trajectory.

Name

Zanzibar Petroleum (Upstream) Regulatory Authority

Legal name

Zanzibar Petroleum (Upstream) Regulatory Authority

Website

https://zpra.go.tz

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Zanzibar Petroleum (Upstream) Regulatory Authority (ZPRA) is a statutory government regulator under the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, overseeing oil and gas exploration and production activities in Zanzibar waters.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Petroleum Regulatory Services

NAICS

Regulation and Administration of Communications, Electric, Gas, and Other Utilities (92613)

akta.pro primary industry

Mineral Rights, Leasing & Land Management (EUALAAAB)

Keywords

• Petroleum regulation
• Upstream oil and gas
• Regulatory authority
• Exploration licensing
• Energy governance

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Core offering

ZPRA is a government statutory body that regulates upstream petroleum operations in Zanzibar's waters, including exploration and production licensing, operator compliance monitoring, and issuance of regulatory approvals for oil and gas activities. It serves as the sole upstream regulator under the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Upstream Petroleum Licensing and Regulation

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Direct peers

• Petroleum Commission of Ghana: Ghanaian statutory regulator overseeing exploration, development, and production of petroleum resources. Comparable as an African national upstream regulator with responsibility for licensing and monitoring upstream operations, though operating in a more mature hydrocarbon jurisdiction.
• Petroleum Exploration and Production Authority (PEPA) of Kenya: Kenya's dedicated upstream petroleum authority responsible for licensing and managing exploration and production contracts. Shares ZPRA's narrow upstream-only mandate and East African frontier context, though operating across a larger acreage position.
• Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA): Kenya's integrated petroleum and energy regulator covering upstream, midstream, and downstream activities. Directly comparable to ZPRA as an East African statutory regulator licensing and overseeing petroleum operations, though at significantly larger scale.
• Petroleum Regulatory Authority of Uganda: Statutory body regulating Uganda's upstream petroleum activities, including licensing, monitoring, and policy advisory. Closely comparable to ZPRA in mandate scope and East African regional context, although Uganda's upstream sector is more advanced (e.g., Albertine Graben developments).

Regional players

• Tanzania Mining Commission: Tanzania's statutory regulator for the mining sector, established under the Revolutionary Government of Tanzania. Structurally comparable as a domestic Tanzanian statutory body regulating extractive resources, useful as a governance and operating-model benchmark for ZPRA.
• Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC): Tanzania's national oil company and parent state actor in petroleum operations. While commercial rather than purely regulatory, TPDC is the principal counterpart ZPRA coordinates with on upstream policy, licensing frameworks, and Tanzania-wide industry strategy.
• National Petroleum Authority of Ghana: Ghanaian regulator focused on petroleum downstream (fuel standards, licensing of service providers, price monitoring). Less directly comparable but offers a model of how a regional African regulator can be structured around a petroleum mandate.

Broad incumbents

• Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR): Nigeria's longstanding petroleum regulator overseeing upstream and downstream activities across the country's mature hydrocarbon sector. A broad incumbent peer reflecting the established African regulator model that ZPRA's mandate parallels at a much smaller scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat1 record

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/zpra

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Zanzibar Petroleum (Upstream) Regulatory Authority