Tanzania has concluded the purchase of a land for the site of a planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant and is currently working towards rewarding and resettling villagers in order to advance with its long-delayed project.

The country's natural gas reserves are estimated to be above 55tcf. The central bank is confident that with the commencement of work on the massive plant 2 % points can be added to the country’s yearly economic growth of 7 % as well as attract billions of dollars of investment.

BG Group, (being acquired by Royal Dutch Shell) together with Statoil, Exxon Mobil and Ophir Energy had planned to construct the onshore LNG export terminal in collaboration with Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) which is scheduled to begin in early 2020s but their final investment decision (FID) was hindered due to delays in concluding issues related to the site.

TPDC now owns two title deed one for some 2,071.705 hectares of land that have been reserved for the construction of the intended two-train LNG terminal at Likong'o village while another 17,000 hectares of land close to the site for the proposed LNG terminal has been set aside for an industrial park.

According to Reuters, East Africa has become a new point in hydrocarbon exploration after significant deposits of crude oil were discovered in Uganda while key gas reserves were found in Tanzania and Mozambique.

Anita Fatunji