The National Petroleum Institute (INP) recently expressed its expectation that the liquefied natural gas (LNG) exploration project on the Afungi peninsula in Cabo Delgado could soon be resumed by TotalEnergies. The project, which was suspended in 2021 due to security concerns, is seen as crucial for the Mozambican economy, and the INP believes that the necessary conditions for its reactivation are getting closer to being realized.
According to Nazário Bangalane, chairman of INP’s board of directors (PCA), talks with TotalEnergies have progressed positively, and there is growing confidence that operations can be resumed in the near future. “Based on the contacts we have had with TotalEnergies at various levels, we believe that the conditions are in place for operations to begin soon. However, we cannot yet set a specific date, but we are working hard to make this happen as soon as possible,” Bangalane said.
The expectation of a return was also reiterated by Patrick Pouyanné, chairman of TotalEnergies, who in February, during the presentation of the 2023 results, said that the company planned to resume activities in the Rovuma basin by the end of this year. Pouyanné pointed out that TotalEnergies is monitoring the situation in Cabo Delgado, observing the return of the civilian population and an improvement in security conditions. “We are monitoring the terrain, the civilian population has already returned and we can see a certain normality. There are some engineering issues to be resolved, but I hope to restart the project by the end of the year,” he explained.
The French executive also pointed out that TotalEnergies has made progress in mobilizing suppliers and contractors, which are essential for reactivating the project. “We are mobilizing the contractors again and we are not far from having everything ready to return to Mozambique and restart the work,” he added.
The project led by TotalEnergies is one of three developments approved for the exploitation of the vast natural gas reserves in the Rovuma basin, one of the largest in the world. The Rovuma basin includes two large-scale projects that will extract gas from the seabed and process it for export in liquid form. TotalEnergies leads the Area 1 consortium, whose operations were suspended after the attack on Palma in March 2021, while a second project in Area 4 is led by ExxonMobil and Eni, but does not yet have a defined start date.
