Tanzania expects to finalise agreements for its long-delayed $42 billion LNG export project in the coming months, Finance Minister Khamis Mussa Omar said, in the clearest signal yet that the country’s flagship energy development may be nearing completion.
“It’s almost there,” Omar told Reuters, referring to the LNG agreement, which officials had previously expected to sign before June. The project, led by Norway’s Equinor and Shell, would commercialise offshore gas discoveries estimated at 47.13 trillion cubic feet through an onshore LNG export terminal in the southern coastal region of Lindi. Other partners include ExxonMobil, MedcoEnergy of Indonesia, Pavillion Energy and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corp.
Tanzania sealed a preliminary Host Government Agreement framework with Equinor and Shell in June 2022, but the project has repeatedly missed deadlines for definitive agreements. In late September, TPDC Managing Director Mussa Makame claimed that commercial, fiscal and revenue-sharing negotiations were “largely complete.”
Though state-owned TPDC and the Finance Ministry say the gas upstream deal is close, project financing and a construction timetable have yet to be confirmed. Both revenue-sharing agreements and debt financing contracts require government approval before Shell and Equinor can proceed to taking a final investment decision.
Finance Minister Omar said the government has not decided whether to issue an international bond, but is seeking to attract foreign investors into Tanzania’s domestic debt market after widening access in July and launching a sovereign yield curve in August. The government is also assessing whether to seek a new IMF lending programme.
Most of the LNG produced at Tanzania’s the proposed terminal is designated for export as the Government seeks to build East Africa into a regional energy hub, alongside Uganda’s planned first oil exports through the port of Tanga in early 2027. (October 14, 2026, Source: https://lngjournal.com/index.php/latest-news-mainmenu-47/item/117424-tanzania-edges-close-to-finalise-42bn-lng-deal)
TANZANIA - LNG - SUPPLIES - IMPORTS - EXPORTS