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French energy company TotalEnergies on Thursday officially restarted its massive gas project in northern Mozambique, five years after it was suspended following a deadly jihadist attack.
The Mozambique Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project, touted as the largest private investment in Africa’s energy sector, is expected to create thousands of jobs and position the country as a leading exporter of liquefied natural gas.
TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said at a ceremony attended by Mozambique’s President Daniel Chapo that the “force majeure is over” and the project has fully resumed.
“I am delighted to announce the full restart of the Mozambique LNG project. The force majeure is over.”
He noted that over 4,000 workers are on site, 80 percent of them Mozambican nationals.
“This project will make the region a new source of global energy security,” Pouyanne added.
President Chapo described the restart as a historic moment, emphasising that the move restores confidence among domestic and foreign investors.
“This project will make the region a new source of global energy security. It is a day of celebration for Mozambique, for Africa and for the world.
“It is a historic moment, representing much more than the start of construction work. It represents the victory, resilience, courage and determination of the Mozambican people.”
Mozambique is “capable of overcoming challenges and restoring the confidence of domestic and foreign investors”, he added.
The $20-billion project in Cabo Delgado province, near the Tanzania border, was suspended after a 2021 attack killed an estimated 800 people.
TotalEnergies has sought $4.5 billion in compensation for delays and is requesting a 10-year extension to its concession, though approval from Maputo is still pending.
Despite the economic promise, environmental groups have criticised the project, calling it a “climate bomb” and arguing it would do little for local communities, where over 80 percent lived below the poverty line in 2022, according to the World Bank.
Northern Mozambique has faced a jihadist insurgency since 2017. The 2021 Palma attack near the TotalEnergies site displaced thousands, and the conflict has killed more than 6,200 people, according to conflict tracker ACLED.
Other projects in the region, involving companies such as ENI and ExxonMobil, could make Mozambique one of the world’s top ten natural gas producers, potentially contributing 20 percent of Africa’s gas output by 2040, Deloitte reported in 2024.
