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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 vari-
Assembly last week that the schedule for the ety of projects, including upstream exploration
project had not changed. Tanzania Petroleum and development schemes and gas processing.
Development Corp. (TPDC), the national oil “Until now, we have about 11 contracts for
company (NOC), still expects work to begin in exploration and processing of natural gas and
2023 and finish in 2028, he said. we are working with different companies in col-
He also put the total cost of the project at laboration with 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 been discovered in Tanzania to date. Currently,
an onshore gas liquefaction plant at Lindi, in the he added, the country uses about 50% of its gas
southern part of the country. Thus far, he said, output to generate electricity, while the other
the company has paid out TZS5.7bn ($2.46mn) 50% is used to fuel vehicles, industrial facilities
to the owners of the land where the facility will and homes.
be built. Tanzania is not yet a major gas producer, but
He was responding to a question from it does extract at least 19bn cubic feet (538mn
Shamsia Mtamba, a delegate from the Citizens cubic metres) per year from Songo Songo and
United Front (CUF) faction. Mtamba had asked other fields. It is hoping to raise this figure as the
for clarification on the project on the grounds LNG scheme moves forward.
that the government had not disclosed sufficient According to previous reports, Tanzania
information about plans for Tanzania LNG. She LNG will involve constructing a gas liquefac-
also requested more information on plans for tion plant with two production trains with a
development of the country’s gas reserves – capacity of 5mn tonnes per year (tpy) each. The
from a general perspective, and not just within facility will process gas from three deepwater
the framework of the Tanzania LNG project. offshore sites containing about 35 tcf (991bn
“The government had a good plan for the cubic metres) – Block 2, assigned to Equinor
natural gas in the country, but until now there (Norway), and Blocks 1 and 4, assigned to Royal
has been a dilemma over this robust invest- Dutch Shell (UK/Netherlands). The govern-
ment,” she was quoted as saying by Tanzania ment hopes to sign a host government agree-
Daily News. “What is the government statement ment (HGA) with the two companies in the
on this plan?” near future. ™

Tanzania LNG is slated to process gas from Blocks 1, 2 and 4 (Image: EIA)

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 27 07•July•2021