Minister of Energy January Makamba. Photo via Energy Voice

Tanzania has begun negotiations with companies on a proposed $30 billion LNG scheme.

Tanzanian Minister of Energy January Makamba said the project would transform the country’s economy. The ministry has been working behind the scenes for two months, he continued.

“We’re confident that a final investment decision [FID] will come sooner than is traditionally the case,” Makamba said. The government has said it hopes the companies may start building the LNG facility in 2022. The licences on Blocks 1 and 2 are due to expire in 2023.

The government is in talks with Shell, Equinor, Singapore’s Pavilion Energy and ExxonMobil. The focus is on the host government agreement (HGA).

This aims to set out fiscal, legal and commercial terms for the onshore part of the LNG project.

The minister said there would be updates in the coming weeks as the two sides work on the major plan.

Makamba held talks with Equinor vice president for E&P in Africa Paul McCafferty in October. The minister reported both sides were optimistic about the Tanzania LNG project’s “investability”.

Low-carbon plans

In April this year, the country heads of Shell and Equinor wrote an op-ed in The Citizen newspaper calling for the government to support the LNG project.

“Tanzania LNG can win in the highly competitive global LNG space,” they said. Shell and Equinor have agreed to work together on an LNG plant at Lindi.

However, at the start of the year Equinor wrote down the value of its Tanzania LNG plan by $982 million. The Norwegian company said the breakeven price for the project is “well above” its portfolio average.

Equinor plans to shift its capital expenditure from oil and gas towards renewables and low carbon options. It has set the goal of focusing 50% of its capex on this area by 2030, from 4% in 2020.

The gas offshore Tanzania has low levels of associated CO2, making it a potentially attractive project for meeting future LNG needs. - Ed Reed, Energy Voice

Deputy President William Ruto reportedly received intelligence to avoid parts of Kisumu over tension.

Police spokesperson Bruno Shioso has said the tension was due to dispute over the distribution of campaign funds. 

A crowd has disrupted Deputy President William Ruto’s Wednesday tour of Kondele Ward in Kisumu Central Sub-County. Ruto is in Kisumu to sell his presidential agenda. 

As he passed through Kondele, some youth pelted his convoy with stones. Police officers in at least four Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles were deployed to the scene to restore normalcy.

When Ruto was addressing the crowd from his vehicle’s sunroof, a section of rowdy youth then started heckling him. The DP was forced to cut short his speech which had lasted barely five minutes. 

Shioso said Ruto's team was warned and asked to skip Kondele during the Nyanza tour. 

"During the rally, violence erupted amongst the local agitated groups who engaged in stone-throwing and other unruly behaviour," he added.

Police responded promptly to contain the situation and provide security to Ruto, his entourage, the public, and property, in the process, tear gas was discharged.

DP Ruto left the scene and no injuries were reported, but some vehicles were destroyed.

Ruto had earlier made successful addresses on Obote Road and Jua Kali in Kisumu Central.

In his speech, the DP urged the residents to vote for him in the 2022 presidential election, saying he was the best bet to economically elevate the low and middle-income earners in the country. By Jael Mboga, The Standard

US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman meets with Sudanese Foreign Minister Maryam al-Sadeq al-Mahdi in Khartoum on May 7, 2021. Photo AFP

US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman returned to Ethiopia on Monday after leaving for a short trip to Kenya, State Department Spokesman Ned Price said.

He was set to meet with his counterpart from the African Union, Olusegun Obasanjo, to discuss ways of easing fighting in Ethiopia.

“We are engaging with the parties to try and put them on a path to a cessation of hostilities, which is our priority now and going forward,” Price told reporters during the daily press briefing.

“We believe there is a small window of opening to work with the African Union High Representative for the Horn of Africa,” he added.

Feltman was in Ethiopia last month and returned this month as part of Washington’s efforts to reach a ceasefire between Ethiopia’s government, headed by PM Abiy Ahmed, and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

Ahmed’s government declared a state of emergency last week and vowed to “bury” their enemies in reference to the TPLF.

Fighting has marred the country for a year now, with the UN and US warning of sanctions as the humanitarian situation quickly deteriorates. - Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya