The Tanzanian government on Saturday signed an agreement with multinationals Equinor (Norwegian) and Shell (British) to build a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export project, valued at $30 billion.

The Final Investment Decision (DFI) is expected to be announced in 2025, with first operations to start between 2029 and 2030 at a liquefied natural gas plant to be built in the southern Tanzanian coastal town of Lindi, which is 190 kilometers from the Palma district in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province.

The LNG deposit off the Tanzanian coast is estimated to contain more than 57 trillion cubic feet (1,630 billion cubic meters).

The country had never before received an investment at this level, acknowledged Tanzanian Energy Minister January Makamba at the signing of the agreement. "This project will significantly change our economy."

"Tanzania's geographic positioning makes it easy to transport the natural gas to other countries, especially some Asian countries, which are looking for new sources of energy," he noted.

Projects for the LNG plant had stalled for several years when the country was still under the rule of John Magufuli, predecessor of Tanzania's current President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Equinor and American ExxonMobil are exploring a block, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) off the coast of Lindi, where they say they have found 20 trillion cubic feet (566 billion cubic meters) of natural gas.

Shell and Ophir Energy and Pavilion Energy say they have discovered 16 trillion cubic feet (453 billion cubic meters) of gas in two other offshore blocks in the same area.