With the new gas discoveries in East Africa and in the Levantine Basin comes the need to better understand the gas value chain and how to structure complex and capital intensive Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects for the benefit of the country. Having a fiscal model is key to enable this understanding, enabling the government to   assess   the   impact   of negotiated   fiscal   terms   on   the   returns   to   the   investor   and   the   revenues   to   the   government. Thomas Mitro of the University of Houston and the Columbia   Center   on   Sustainable   Investment   at   Columbia   University (CCSI) have built the first open fiscal LNG model that allows users to test different LNG commercial structures, compare domestic gas use options and assess the impact of various fiscal tools along the gas value chain. This manual has been developed to explain some concepts of the LNG value chain and how these can be tested in the model. It is available to download on CCSI’s website.