Shell and Equinor to build major Tanzania LNG project

Shell, Equinor and Tanzania’s government have made a major breakthrough on plans to build a $30 billion liquefied natural gas project in the East African country.

The huge project aims to pipe some 40 trillion cubic feet of gas held in deepwater blocks 1, 2 and 4 to a 10 million tonnes per annum LNG plant at Lindi.

Tanzania’s Minister of Energy January Makamba said  that discussions with Shell, Equinor and their partners — including ExxonMobil, Pavilion Energy and Medco Energi — have been completed on the contractual terms of a critical host government agreement (HGA) that will underpin the project are now being drawn up.

Earlier last year, Tanzania’s President Sumia Hassan suggested that if an HGA could be concluded by the end of 2022, then a final investment decision on Tanzania LNG would be possible in 2025.

This would imply — based on a typical onshore LNG project schedule — that first cargoes could be exported by about 2030.