“All conditions being created” for the resumption of TotalEnergies Mozambique LNG megaproject – government | Lusa

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“All conditions being created” for the resumption of TotalEnergies Mozambique LNG megaproject – government | Lusa

4:10 CAT | 14 Jul 2025

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

The Mozambican government asserted again today that the conditions are in place for the resumption of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) megaproject in Cabo Delgado, following a meeting between President Daniel Chapo and the head of TotalEnergies.

“It was a meeting with a view to restarting activities. At the government level, all conditions are being created to allow investors to restart activities as quickly as possible,” said Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Estêvão Pale, on the sidelines of the launch ceremony of the Public Consultation Program on the Legal Reform of the National Extractive Sector, in the southern province of Inhambane.

At stake is the meeting, held on Thursday between the Mozambican head of state, Daniel Chapo, and the head of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, which was confirmed to Lusa by the French oil company, but whose agenda was not disclosed at the time.

Patrick Pouyanné had previously acknowledged the possibility of resuming the $20 billion (€17.3 billion) megaproject 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, suspended four years ago due to the terrorist attacks.

Today, the minister reaffirmed the multinational’s support for the project’s resumption: “The President [Daniel Chapo] once again reaffirmed the commitment that has been made to ensure that this activity can be restarted as soon as possible.”

Without providing a date for the project’s resumption, he reiterated that the removal of the force majeure clause, triggered in 2021 due to the terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado, depends on TotalEnergies and its partners: “It was not the Mozambicans who introduced the force majeure clause.”

TotalEnergies, the leader of the Area 1 consortium, is currently developing a plant in Afungi, near Palma, for the production and export of LNG.

The multinational has a 26.5% stake in this project, primarily intended for customers in Asia, along with Mozambican partners and the Japanese company Mitsui (20%).

The Mozambican president argued on June 22 that TotalEnergies should lift the “force majeure” clause 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. Regardless of a development plan [for the gas project] being signed, without the lifting of the ‘force majeure’ , we won’t be doing anything,” the Mozambican head of state said on that date.

“If the ‘force majeure’ is lifted,” Chapo 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, a the time, that, according to information from TotalEnergies, of the $15 billion (€13 billion) in financing still needed for the project, $13 billion (€11.3 billion) has been secured, recalling the previous announcement by the US Exim Bank, the United States’ export bank, which in March confirmed support of $4.7 billion (€4 billion), awaiting a decision from European banks for the remainder.

The French multinational had already stated its intention to resume the LNG megaproject in northern Mozambique this year, with financing needs virtually assured and the security situation in the area guaranteed.

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

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 a 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, a U.S. Department of Defense academic institution that analyses conflicts in Africa.

Source: Lusa