GLNG: Tanzania expects to sign several agreements on LNG project in December

Tanzanian Energy Minister January Makamba reiterated on November 7 that his country’s government was optimistic about its chances of signing a package of agreements in December with Shell (UK) and Equinor (Norway), the foreign shareholders in the Tanzania LNG consortium.

“It’s happening,” Makamba told Bloomberg in an interview on the sidelines of the COP27 international climate summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. “In December, we will conclude the conversation. We are in the fiscal package discussions now.”

The documents slated for signing next month include a final host government agreement (HGA), which outlines all the terms of the Tanzania LNG scheme, as well as the benefit-sharing agreement and the project law, he informed the news agency. The parties hope to take a final investment decision (FID) in January 2025, and this would allow LNG exports to begin before 2030, he stated.

Makamba went on to say that Tanzania was working with Shell and Equinor to reduce the carbon emissions intensity of the LNG project, which calls for gas to be extracted from three deepwater offshore blocks and processed at an onshore facility. The partners will make use of new technologies that minimise the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) released during production, he declared.

“The project will be designed in such a way that it will be the cleanest gas project ever,” Makamba remarked. “The gas chemistry itself, it’s one of the [types of] gas with the lowest CO2 content in the world.”