Mozambique: TotalEnergies CEO met President Chapo in Maputo with LNG megaproject on the agenda – Lusa

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Mozambique: TotalEnergies CEO met President Chapo in Maputo with LNG megaproject on the agenda – Lusa

12:52 CAT | 11 Jul 2025

FILE -For illustration purposes only..[File photo: TotalEnergies]

TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné met the Mozambican president, Daniel Chapo, on Thursday, at a time when the resumption of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) megaproject is imminent, after President Chapo recently called on the oil company to resume work on the project.

A source from the French multinational told Lusa that the meeting took place in Maputo, but did not reveal further details of the agenda.

Patrick Pouyanné previously admitted the possibility of resuming the project by August, and several subcontractors are receiving instructions to prepare to return to work on the Afungi peninsula in Cabo Delgado, in the far north of Mozambique, which was suspended four years ago, due to terrorist attacks.

TotalEnergies, leader of the Area 1 consortium, is currently developing the construction of a plant in Afungi, near Palma, for the production and export of LNG. The multinational has a 26.5% stake in this project, primarily aimed at clients in Asia, alongside Mozambican partners and Japan’s Mitsui (20%).

The Mozambican president argued on June 22 that TotalEnergies should lift the “force majeure” clause, triggered in 2021 due to the terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado, for the natural gas megaproject to finally move forward.

“The most important thing at this moment with TotalEnergies is the lifting of the ‘force majeure’ clause. No matter how much a development plan [for the gas project] is signed, without the lifting of the ‘force majeure’ clause, we won’t be doing anything,” the Mozambican head of state said at the time.

“If the ‘force majeure’ clause is lifted,” he stated that same day, “we will move forward with the project,” which anticipates an annual production capacity of 13.12 million tons of LNG.

He added that, according to information from TotalEnergies, of the US$15 billion (€13 billion) in financing still needed for the project – out of a total of US$20 billion (€17.3 billion) – US$13 billion (€11.3 billion) has been secured, recalling the previous announcement by the US Exim Bank, the United States’ export bank, which confirmed in March that it would provide US$4.7 billion (€4 billion) of support, and a decision from European banks awaited for the remainder.

“It was not the government that invoked force majeure. This must be made very clear. It was TotalEnergies that invoked force majeure. And it is the responsibility of TotalEnergies, which invoked force majeure, to make the withdrawal,” Chapo insisted in the same statements.

The French multinational had already announced plans to resume its LNG megaproject in northern Mozambique this year, with financing needs virtually assured and the area’s security situation secure.

Mozambique has three approved development projects to exploit the Rovuma Basin natural gas reserves off the coast of Cabo Delgado, ranked among the largest in the world.

Since October 2017, the gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado has faced an armed rebellion, with attacks claimed by movements associated with the extremist group Islamic State, which have displaced more than one million people.

In 2024 alone, at least 349 people died in attacks by Islamic extremist groups in the province, a 36% increase over the previous year, according to data recently released by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, an academic institution within the U.S. Department of Defense that analyses conflicts in Africa.

Source: Lusa