LNG

The East African nation of Tanzania said contract preparations are under way with Norwegian energy major Equinor and UK-based Shell to construct a $30 billion liquefied natural gas export project.

One of the world’s main liquefied natural gas projects, Mozambique LNG, is threatened with a long-term delay because of growing terrorist attacks by Islamist groups that have led to urgent travel warnings by nations like the US and the UK and with France now stating that a large-scale “humanitarian crisis” could develop.

Sasol, the South African petrochemicals and fuel company, has appointed investment banking advisers to sell its stakes in a power plant in Mozambique and a natural gas pipeline running from the southeast African future LNG exporter into South Africa.

French energy major Total said it would not complete the purchase of the African assets in Algeria and Ghana of Occidental Petroleum of the US, while it has finalized the acquisition of Mozambique LNG and a South African offshore licence under the same original deal.

PTTEP of Thailand, the oil and gas producer and a shareholder in LNG projects offshore Malaysia and Mozambique, remained confident of moving forward with its 2020 business plan under the current challenges, underpinned by Gulf of Thailand natural gas resources.

ExxonMobil said it planned to invest more than $500 million in the initial construction phase of its liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique as part of the Area 4 resources development with its partners including Italian energy company Eni and China National Petroleum Corp.

East African exploration and production is now gathering pace with Mozambique developing multiple LNG projects, Tanzania looking to monetize discovered gas reserves and now Kenya entering the race with Italian energy company Eni and Qatar Petroleum joining forces offshore.