Total Energies has announced that its $20 billion Mozambique LNG project would resume operations “this summer” after being shut under force majeure conditions since 2021, following insurgent attacks. This was disclosed by Patrick Pouyanne, TotalEnergies CEO during a session at the Japan Energy Summit in Tokyo.
Mozambique LNG Project
The Mozambique LNG project, worth $20 billion, is expected to help liquefy gas from two offshore fields, Golfinho and Atum, with an annual processing capacity of 13.12 million tons. This facility is the biggest liquefied natural gas project in Africa and the biggest foreign investment on the continent as well.
TotalEnergies is the operator with 26%, in partnership with Japan’s Mitsui & Co, Thailand’s PTTEP, and Mozambique’s state energy firm ENH.
Mozambique Insurgency
Northern Mozambique has been struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency for a long time with the situation only recently improving with the help of the Rwandan authorities and Rwandan troops, financed by the European Union.
In addition to the insurgence that has threatened the Mozambique LNG project, there is strong environmentalist opposition to the facility, with the government getting involved. First, at the end of last year, TotalEnergies tried and failed to convince the outgoing Biden administration to release some $5 billion in state loans for Mozambique LNG.
Then, early this year, the UK government was reported to be seeking ways to get out of an obligation to supply some of the funds for the project, in line with its total-transition policies causing delays to the start date for the facility twice, first to 2027 and more recently to 2029.
