Tanzania is stepping up efforts to join the club of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) exporters, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spurs Europe to look for new energy sources. Tanzania says investments in its first LNG project could reach $40 billion.

The Tanzanian government said it planned to conclude talks in June with a group of foreign oil and gas companies led by Norway’s Equinor on developing a liquified natural gas terminal.

Tanzania has an estimated 17 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves, which puts it in position to benefit from Europe’s rush to diversify its energy sources.

Analysts say the sale of LNG on the international market would generate huge revenues for the nation. Walter Nguma is an independent economic analyst.

He said, many Tanzanians will be employed and the country will increase government revenues through foreign income. In the project, the country would also have enough gas energy for its own needs. When you look, he says, the world is expected to use LNG in cars by 2030 to preserve the environment, so this is a potentially big project.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Tanzanian President Samia Hassan said embracing the private sector is her major priority. She said that it’s only the private sector that can bring foreign direct investment and create jobs.

Hassan has expressed her commitment to fast track the development of natural gas resources for the benefit of the nation.

However, James Tumaini, a Dar es Salaam resident and project manager from Mzumbe University, said the LNG market is extremely competitive, which might make it hard for Tanzania to penetrate it.

He said, the government should ensure a friendly environment in implementing this project. Since there are other countries with the same product, competition is high, so the government should stand firm on this, he said.

The LNG project will be Tanzania’s biggest project, and the earliest the country will be able to ship the gas is 2030, if there are no further delays.
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