Tanzanian President John Magufuli has asked his government to proceed with negotiations to set out the commercial and fiscal framework for the LNG project, it added.

"Equinor will now proceed with our partner ExxonMobil with negotiations for a host government agreement," an Equinor spokesman said in an email to Reuters.

He said it was too early to say how long talks with the government could take and how much the project would cost.

Tanzania said in 2014 that a planned LNG export plant could cost up to $30 billion.

Royal Dutch Shell, which operates deepwater Blocks 1 and 4, adjacent to Equinor's Block 2 previously sought to develop the LNG project in partnership with Equinor and Exxon Mobil.

Shell said on its website the three blocks had sufficient gas reserves to build an onshore LNG plant, but the company was not immediately available to comment on whether it would join the other two in starting talks.

Shell estimates its two blocks hold about 16 trillion cubic feet (453 billion cubic metres) of recoverable gas, similar to the volumes in Equinor's Block 2.

Reuters reported in June that Exxon Mobil was seeking to sell its 25 percent stake in Block 2 as it was focusing on an even bigger project in neighbouring Mozambique.