Chapo insists that Mozambique LNG project resumption depends on TotalEnergies

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Chapo insists that Mozambique LNG project resumption depends on TotalEnergies

12:54 CAT | 22 Aug 2025

Presidente-da-Republica-fala-a-imprensa-no-fim-do-encontro-com-o-dirigente-da-Mitsui

Photo: Presidency

Mozambican president Daniel Chapo yesterday insisted that the decision to resume the country’s natural gas exploitation project, suspended since 2021 due to terrorist attacks, depends on TotalEnergies, leader of the investment.

“The resumption depends on who is leading the project, and who is leading the project at the moment is Total,” the head of state declared on the sidelines of a meeting with the president of the Japanese multinational Mitsui, in Yokohama, the Japanese city hosting the 9th Tokyo International Conference for Africa’s Development (TICAD 9).

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

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

According to Daniel Chapo, it is in the interest of Mitsui, which has a 20% stake in this project, and of the Government of Mozambique to restart the investment, “but the decision is up to the leader.”

“We are all working at full speed to see if, at any time, the project can be resumed. This project is subject to a force majeure clause,” concluded the president.

In July, the Mozambican government reiterated that conditions for the resumption of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) megaproject in Cabo Delgado were in place, following a meeting between President Daniel Chapo and the leader of TotalEnergies.

“It was a contact 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 Estêvão Pale, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, at the time.

Minister Pale was speaking in reference to a meeting in Maputo between the Mozambican head of state, Daniel Chapo, and the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, which was confirmed to Lusa by the French major, but whose agenda was not disclosed at the time.

Patrick Pouyanné had previously admitted 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, which was suspended four years ago due to terrorist attacks.

The multinational has a 26.5% stake in this project, primarily intended for clients in Asia.

On June 22, the Mozambican president argued that TotalEnergies should lift the “force majeure” clause for the natural gas megaproject to finally move forward.

“If the ‘force majeure’ clause is lifted,” Chapo stated at the time, “the project will move forward,” which anticipates an annual production capacity of 13.12 million tons of LNG.

READ: TotalEnergies working on Mozambique LNG restart, CEO says

Transcript : TotalEnergies SE, Q2 2025 Earnings Call, Jul 24, 2025

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, an academic institution within the U.S. Department of Defence that analyses conflicts in Africa.

Source: Lusa