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Deputy minister confirms 2023 start

date for Tanzania LNG project

TANZANIA TANZANIA’S Deputy Energy Minister Stephen The deputy minister responded by highlight-
Byabato has confirmed that work on the Tanza- ing TPDC’s activities on this front, saying that
nia LNG project is still slated to begin in 2023. the NOC has continued to encourage interna-
Byabato told members of the National tional oil companies (IOCs) to invest in a variety
Assembly last week that the schedule for the of projects, including upstream exploration and
project had not changed. Tanzania Petroleum development schemes and gas processing. “Until
Development Corp. (TPDC), the national oil now, we have about 11 contracts for exploration
company (NOC), still expects work to begin in and processing of natural gas and we are working
2023 and finish in 2028, he said. with different companies in collaboration with
He also put the total cost of the project at TPDC,” he stated.
$30.5bn and said that TPDC had begun the pro- He went on to say that a total of 57.54 trillion
cess of compensating the people who have been cubic feet (1.629 trillion cubic metres) of gas had
relocated to make way for the construction of an been discovered in Tanzania to date. Currently,
onshore gas liquefaction plant at Lindi, in the he added, the country uses about 50% of its gas
southern part of the country. output to generate electricity, while the other
Thus far, he said, the company has paid out 50% is used to fuel vehicles, industrial facilities
TZS5.7bn ($2.46mn) to the owners of the land and homes.
where the facility will be built. Tanzania is not yet a major gas producer, but
He was responding to a question from Sham- it does extract at least 19bn cubic feet (538mn
sia Mtamba, a delegate from the Citizens United cubic metres) per year from Songo Songo and
Front (CUF) faction. Mtamba had asked for clar- other fields. It is hoping to raise this figure as the
ification on the project on the grounds that the LNG scheme moves forward.
government had not disclosed sufficient infor- According to previous reports, Tanzania LNG
mation about plans for Tanzania LNG. will involve constructing a gas liquefaction plant
She also requested more information on plans with two production trains with a capacity of
for development of the country’s gas reserves – 5mn tonnes per year (tpy) each. The facility will
from a general perspective, and not just within process gas from three deepwater offshore sites
the framework of the Tanzania LNG project. containing about 35 tcf (991bn cubic metres)
“The government had a good plan for the nat- – Block 2, assigned to Equinor (Norway), and
ural gas in the country, but until now there has Blocks 1 and 4, assigned to Royal Dutch Shell
been a dilemma over this robust investment,” she (UK/Netherlands).
was quoted as saying by Tanzania Daily News. The government hopes to sign a host govern-
“What is the government statement on this ment agreement (HGA) with the two companies
plan?” in the near future.™

Week 27 08•July•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P5