The CEO of French multinational TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, revealed that the Export-Import Bank (Exim) of the United States of America (USA) could approve financing of 4.7 billion dollars for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) exploration project in Mozambique in the coming weeks, emphasising that other credit agencies will do the same in the following months.
According to Reuters, in 2020 Exim had pledged most of the funding for the LNG project valued at 20 billion dollars. However, it was suspended the following year due to an Islamist insurgency that attacked the Cabo Delgado region, forcing the oil company to declare force majeure and withdraw its local team before any disbursement was made.
Patrick Pouyanné, who was speaking to journalists on Wednesday 5 February after the release of the 2024 fourth quarter earnings, said that ‘the project’s completion date will have to be postponed from 2027 to 2029-30.’
In his speech, he emphasised that the United Kingdom, which has committed around 800 million to 1 billion dollars, is checking whether it has the legal right to withdraw from the project, stressing that the country has already signed a financing contract. ‘I’m waiting to see how they explain it to us,’ he concluded.
CEO of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné
In January, the CEO warned that the official return of US President-elect Donald Trump to the White House on 20 January would ‘inevitably’ lead to the replacement of the entire board of directors of the US export credit agency.
However, Patrick Pouyanné said he hoped that the pro-hydrocarbon tendency of the new Republican administration would make it easier to validate the Exim Bank’s guarantee, as this is essential support, given that the Dutch import-export bank and others are also waiting for the green light from their American counterpart before deciding to invest.
Recently, Mozambican President Daniel Chapo said he had received assurances from the CEO of TotalEnergies about the French oil company’s ‘commitment’ to restarting the gas project in Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country.
Mozambique has three development projects approved to exploit the natural gas reserves of the Rovuma basin, classified among the largest in the world, all located off the coast of Cabo Delgado province.
Two of these projects are larger and involve channelling the gas from the seabed to land, cooling it in a plant and then exporting it by sea in a liquid state.
One is led by TotalEnergies (Area 1 consortium) and work progressed until it was suspended indefinitely after an armed attack on Palma in March 2021, when the French energy company declared that it would only resume work when the area was safe. The other is the still unannounced investment led by ExxonMobil and Eni (Area 4 consortium).
A third completed, smaller project also belongs to the Area 4 consortium and consists of a floating platform for capturing and processing gas for export, directly at sea, which started up in November 2022.
