Tanzania’s LNG hopes on a knife-edge

Delays to talks over Tanzania’s planned LNG export facility are putting the project’s future in jeopardy

International oil companies (IOCs) sitting on large gas discoveries offshore Tanzania say they are keen to resume drawn out and currently halted talks over the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects, based on large reserves in south of the country. But, even if talks restart soon, the country will still face a struggle to start exports within the next decade given an increasingly competitive global LNG market.         Negotiations were paused by the government in mid-2019 to allow a review of Tanzania’s production sharing agreement (PSA) framework, the outcome of which has yet to be announced.   Tanzania’s overall recoverable gas reserves are estimated at more than 57tn f