Assessment of environmental strategies and stakeholders’ influence on the oil and gas companies in Tanzania.

The discovery of large quantities of commercial natural gas in Tanzania has brought with it advantages and disadvantages, the latter including violence as well as the loss of lives and property. The stakeholders involved in oil and gas development in Tanzania can be categorized as; the oil companies, particularly the international oil companies, organized labour, host communities, regional interests and the Government. Our point of discussion is the stake of host communities and the general public. This study empirically described the influence of the stakeholders on the environmental strategies of oil and gas companies in Tanzania. It particularly identifies the environmental strategies of the oil and gas companies, the major stakeholders with their attributes, and describes their influence on the effective implementation of the companies’ environmental strategies. The study adopted Stakeholder Theory and Stakeholder Identification Theory. The Resource Dependency theory was used in harmony as part of the theoretical base for this study. The study employed descriptive research design and data were collected by administering 100 questionnaires to employees of 12 different oil and gas companies located in Dar Es Salaam and Mtwara. Data analysis was done using Ms. Excel and SPSS 20 which included calculation of different descriptive statistics such as frequency and mean. The study findings showed that there are 10 different environmental strategies of which the most important ones were adhered to all environmental laws and regulations and management of environmental risks. Moreover, the findings show that the key influential stakeholders are the regulatory and external stakeholders namely NEMC, and MEM. Other stakeholders include government entities, capitalist market, shareholders, top management and neighboring society. Furthermore, the results show that all stakeholders generally have an influence over the implementation of environmental strategies of oil and gas companies. However, the difference between the key stakeholders and other stakeholders is the degree or extent of influence which is determined by power, urgency and legitimacy towards environment issues. The study recommends that the government should increase support to key environmental stakeholders which are NEMC and MEM through financing them with the required funds on time to enable them to do their work more effectively. The study also recommends that the government should continue to enhance the level of awareness of the people on environmental conservation in order to increase the number of stakeholders who are environmentally conscious to increase influence on the implementation of environmental strategies of oil and gas companies. It was recommended that further studies be conducted in order to compare environmental situations related to oil and gas activities especially the level of awareness of the strategies and the implementation of the national strategies regarding environmental conservation.