LONDON, May 6 (Reuters) - Negotiations for the

development of Tanzania's $42 billion liquefied natural gas

export plant have been delayed by proposed government changes to

a financial agreement reached last year, two sources from

companies involved in the project said.

The government and investors announced last May they had

completed negotiations on the long-delayed project to unlock

Tanzania's vast offshore gas resources.

Equinor ( EQNR ) and Shell are joint operators

while Exxon Mobil ( XOM ), Pavilion Energy, Medco Energi

and Tanzania's national oil company TPDC are partners.

The government said at the time that the cabinet would

review the agreements the following month. After months without

an update, Energy Minister Doto Biteko told parliament last

month that the attorney general and other government

institutions had provided feedback on the deals and negotiations

were expected to conclude during the 2024/25 fiscal year.

A source from one of the investors said the delay related to

changes that Biteko proposed to the host government agreement

after he became energy minister last August. Biteko also serves

as deputy prime minister.

The source, who asked not to be identified, said Biteko and

his team came back to investors with a "rather interesting

amendment to the HGA which completely blew the project economics

out of the water".

The source did not provide details about the amendment, but

said that progressing on the project would be "definitely not

quick" and that Biteko's talk of completing negotiations in the

coming fiscal year was "certainly optimistic".

A second source from another investor agreed with the first

source's account.

Tanzanian government spokesperson Mobhare Matinyi and an

energy ministry spokesperson did not immediately respond to

requests for comment.

A Shell spokesperson told Reuters that after initialling the

deals with the government, the company "had hoped to see these

agreements signed faster, but we remain ready to continue to

work with the government on competitive and investable

agreements, consistent with what we agreed last year".

A spokesperson for Equinor ( EQNR ) had no comment. Pavilion and

Medico referred Reuters to Shell. Exxon and TPDC did not

immediately respond to requests for comment.