Maputo, July 11, 2025 (Lusa) - TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné met with the Mozambican president on Thursday, as the resumption of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) megaproject is imminent, after Daniel Chapo recently called on the oil company to return to the project.
A source from the French multinational told Lusa that the meeting took place in Maputo,
He provided an update on the agenda without specifying further details. Patrick Pouyanné had previously acknowledged 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, where the project had been 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, mainly intended for customers in Asia, alongside Mozambican partners and Japan’s Mitsui (20%).
On 22 June, the Mozambican president said that TotalEnergies should lift the “force majeure” clause, invoked in 2021 due to terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado, so that the natural gas megaproject can finally go ahead.
“The most important thing at this moment with TotalEnergies is the lifting of ‘force majeure’. With the lifting of ‘force majeure’, signing a development plan [for the gas project] will achieve everything,” said the Mozambican head of state on that date.
“If the ‘force majeure’ is lifted,” he said on the same day, “the project will go ahead,” which anticipates an annual production capacity of 13.12 million tonnes of LNG.
He added that according to information from TotalEnergies, of the $15 billion (€13 billion) in financing still needed for the project - out of a total of $20 billion (€17.3 billion) - $13 billion (€11.3 billion) is already secured, recalling the previous announcement by the US Exim Bank, the United States’ export bank, which in March confirmed its support of $4.7 billion (€4 billion), with European banks expected to announce their decision on the remainder soon.
“TotalEnergies invoked ‘force majeure’, not the government. We must make this point crystal clear. TotalEnergies invoked ‘force majeure’. TotalEnergies, which invoked ‘force majeure’, bears the responsibility to make the withdrawal,” Chapo insisted in the same statements.
The French multinational had already announced its intention to resume the LNG megaproject in northern Mozambique this year, with financing needs virtually secured and operators guaranteeing the security situation in the area.
Mozambique has three approved development projects for the exploration of natural gas reserves in the Rovuma basin, classified among the largest in the world, off the coast of Cabo Delgado.
Since October 2017, the gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed rebellion with attacks claimed by movements associated with the Islamic State extremist group, which have displaced more than one million people.
Islamic extremist groups killed at least 349 people in the province in 2024 alone, an increase of 36% over the previous year, according to data that the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies recently released. The Africa Centre for Strategic Studies is an academic institution of the US Department of Defence that analyses conflicts in Africa.
PVJ/ADB // ADB.
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