Approval Granted for Restart of $20 Billion Mozambique Gas Extraction Project

(Patria) - French company TotalEnergies announced yesterday that the consortium leading the construction of a twenty-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique has decided to lift the suspension of works imposed in 2021 due to jihadist violence, AFP reported.

TotalEnergies stated in a press release that the suspension of the Mozambique liquefied natural gas project due to "force majeure" would be lifted, but added that the Mozambican government must approve this move before work can resume.

It is stated that Mozambican President Daniel Chapo was informed of the decision on Friday.

The Mozambique liquefied natural gas project, the largest private investment in energy infrastructure in Africa, is expected to generate thousands of jobs and help the country become one of the world's largest exporters of liquefied natural gas.

Work was frozen after jihadists carried out a deadly attack on the project site near the Tanzanian border in March 2021, resulting in around 800 deaths.

Since then, there have been no further attacks of that scale, but the jihadist insurgency has not ceased. The United Nations stated that there were around 633 attacks on civilians this year.

Chapo, who visited the United States yesterday, was scheduled to visit the headquarters of American oil and gas giant ExxonMobil, which is considering a different gas project in Mozambique.

The head of ExxonMobil's operations in Mozambique said in September that the American company's decision on the Rovuma LNG project was linked to the lifting of the project's suspension by TotalEnergies.

The French oil and gas company is the leading partner in the Mozambican LNG consortiums, with a 26.5 percent stake. The consortium stated that it could begin first LNG deliveries four years after the start of the project.

The African Development Bank estimated in 2018 that Mozambique has more than five trillion cubic meters of gas, enough to supply the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy for twenty years.