Equinor and Shell have completed talks with the government of Tanzania regarding the planned $30 billion LNG export project in Lindi.
Last year, Equinor and Shell signed a framework deal with Tanzania to develop the LNG export project.
The deal precedes a host government agreement. Tanzania expects a final investment decision on the project in 2025, while the construction could take about 4 to 6 years, Tanzania’s officials said at the time.
Tanzania’s energy minister January Makamba said on March 6 that discussions between the government of Tanzania and the project’s investors Shell, Equinor, and their partners have been completed, according to a statement by the energy ministry.
The minister said that experts are currently working on two large contracts, and each of the contracts has more than 600 pages.
One contract is for the HGA and the other is a production sharing contract for three natural gas blocks which will supply the LNG project.
“This is not a small task but I have insisted that they finish the work this month to be able to continue with other implementation steps,” Makamba said.
He said that the project worth more than $30 billion would bring “a major economic revolution” in the country and would make Tanzania “one of the countries that contribute to energy security in the world.”
Equinor and Shell are both operators of large gas discoveries off the country’s coast.
The Norwegian firm and partner ExxonMobil discovered more than 20 trillion cubic feet of gas in Block 2 offshore Tanzania, according to its website.
Also, Shell says it has about 16 Tcf of natural gas in Block 1 and 4.
Previous reports suggested that the capacity of the planned LNG export facility in Lindi would be about 10 million tonnes per year.