Maputo,Sept 24, 2025 (Lusa) - The oil company ExxonMobil will finance the electrification of the Quionga administrative post, in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, including a 25-kilometre network, a project worth almost €1 million that will benefit 600 families, it announced on Wednesday.
According to information from Eletricidade de Moçambique (EDM), the funding is the result of a memorandum of understanding signed on Tuesday with ExxonMobil Mozambique, representing the partners of Area 4 in the Rovuma Basin, responsible for the Liquefied Natural Gas exploration project in Cabo Delgado, with a view to the second phase of electrification of that station in the Palma district.
It notes that the total investment planned for this new phase of electrifying Quionga is $1.17 million (approximately €1 million), of which $876,000 (approximately €742,000) will be financed by the oil company, and the remainder by EDM.
According to EDM, the first phase of the project, budgeted at $500,000 (€423,000), has already allowed 500 families to be connected to the national electricity grid, benefiting the communities of several in the seat of Palma, one of the districts most affected by armed attacks in this gas-rich province, which has been facing insurgency since 2017.
The work carried out in this first stage included the construction of eight kilometres of 33 kVA network, the installation of four transformers, the construction of 12 kilometres of low-voltage network and the installation of 96 street lamps.
The second phase involves the construction of 25 kilometres of 33 kV medium-voltage line, the installation of four 100 kVA transformers, the construction of six kilometres of low-voltage network, the installation of an additional 60 streetlights, and the connection of 600 families to the National Electricity Grid.
The managing director of Exxon Mozambique, Arne Gibbs, quoted in the document, stressed that having "consistent and reliable" access to energy accelerates progress in all sectors: "this will help catalyse the recovery of the Palma District and, once again, strengthen the resilience of these communities".
'Thanks to national electricity expansion initiatives and projects, the country's electricity access rate has grown from 32.7% in 2020 to 63.7% today,' EDM adds in the document.
Exxon's project in Cabo Delgado, which is awaiting a final investment decision, a process conditioned by the insecurity caused by terrorist attacks, initially expected to produce 15.2 million tonnes of gas per year, has since been revised to 18 million tonnes.
ExxonMobil's general manager in Mozambique had said on 3 May that a decision on the investment could be made by the end of 2025, adding that the Rovuma LNG project will be "the largest liquefied natural gas project in Africa, and could be the largest project in African history".
In March, financial rating agency Fitch said that the expected resumption this year of TotalEnergies' Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in Afungi, Palma, will "facilitate" ExxonMobil's long-awaited decision for another megaproject 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, off the coast of Cabo Delgado, including TotalEnergies', which is still suspended due to security issues, also on the Afungi peninsula, like ExxonMobil.
LYCE/ADB // ADB.
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