The French oil company TotalEnergies and its partners remain in dialogue with the Government aiming to resume works on the Mozambique LNG project, an enterprise valued at 1.28 trillion meticais (20 billion dollars), located in Area 1 of the Rovuma Basin, northern Mozambique. This information was provided by Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies, during the presentation of the company’s second-quarter results, according to the LNG Prime news portal.
“We are working to ensure strong alignment between the Government and investors. This alignment is absolutely necessary before we reengage,” Patrick Pouyanné told analysts, emphasizing that the project is large-scale and requires solid guarantees on several fronts, including security.
Without giving definitive deadlines, the TotalEnergies CEO reiterated the company’s commitment to relaunching the project, mentioning that “September” is the target month on the work schedule. “We need to be sure all parties are truly aligned. We are talking about a project worth around 1.28 trillion meticais (20 billion dollars). We must ensure security and institutional commitment,” he said.
The executive denied that there is a deadlock in negotiations, stating instead that the dialogue with national authorities has been constructive. “Do not misunderstand me. I made a positive observation: to restart a project of this scale, we need strong alignment. That is what we are working on,” he stressed.
The Mozambique LNG project has been halted since April 2021, when TotalEnergies declared force majeure due to the worsening security situation in Cabo Delgado, following armed attacks near the construction site in Palma district. Since then, all personnel were withdrawn from the Afungi complex. In February, Patrick Pouyanné had already indicated that operations are scheduled to start in 2029, although he admitted that in case of further delays, the timeline could slip to 2030.
Besides TotalEnergies, the consortium includes Japanese Mitsui, Mozambican ENH, Thai PTT, and Indian companies ONGC, Bharat Petroleum, and Oil India. The contractor responsible for construction is CCS JV, a consortium formed by Saipem, McDermott, and Chiyoda. According to LNG Prime, the restart of the works gained new momentum this year after the U.S. Export-Import Bank reapproved financing worth approximately 301.6 billion meticais (4.7 billion dollars).
Source: Diário Económico
