The United States Export-Import Bank has approved a loan of almost $5 billion for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique, being developed by a consortium led by the French oil and gas company TotalEnergies, according to a report by Mozambique News Agency citing Reuters.
The LNG project is budgeted at around 20 billion dollars.
The Export-Import Bank had previously agreed a 4.7billion dollar loan under President Donald Trump’s first administration, but it needed to be re-approved after construction on the project was frozen in 2021 following a major attack by islamist terrorists against Palma town, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.
TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said in February that he expected financing from the United States to be approved in coming weeks, with other credit agencies to follow in the ensuing months.
The company had been waiting for loan re-approvals from the United States, UK and Dutch export credit agencies before lifting a force majeure on the project that has been in place since the 2021 terrorist raid.
The Mozambican Energy Minister, Estevao Pale, told the British “Financial Times” that he also expects the UK and Netherlands to reconfirm their support.
It was hoped that the project, known simply as “Mozambique LNG”, in which TotalEnergies holds a 26.5 per cent operating stake, would make Mozambique one of the major LNG producers in the world. But the jihadist raid of 2021 brought all work on the project to a halt.
But security has now improved with troops from Mozambique and Rwanda deployed to protect the Afungi Peninsula where the LNG plants will be built.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
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