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The board of the Export-Import Bank re-approved a $4.7 billion loan in a meeting on Thursday.
Last month, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said that the company expected the US Export-Import Bank to approve financing for the $20 billion Mozambique LNG project in coming weeks.
“I think I would be surprised that President Trump’s administration would be against an LNG project they have approved, by the way, four years ago. So I think it’s a question of weeks. So this is important because it was a big part of the credit export.. it was almost $5 billion,” Pouyanne said.
In May 2020, EXIM voted to amend the agency’s previously approved September 2019 direct loan supporting US exports for the development and construction of the LNG project located on the Afungi Peninsula in northern Mozambique.
The action amended the original scope of EXIM’s financing of the project from exclusively the onshore portion of the LNG plant and related facilities to also allocate an estimated $1.8 billion of the estimated total of $4.7 billion.
However, TotalEnergies declared force majeure on the Mozambique LNG project in April 2021 and withdrew all personnel from the site due to new attacks and the loan needs to be approved again.
Besides TotalEnergies, which has a 26.5 percent operating interest, other partners in the Mozambique LNG project include Japan’s Mitsui, Mozambique’s ENH, Thailand’s PTT, and Indian firms ONGC, Bharat Petroleum, and Oil India.
Launch in 2029, 2030
Mozambique LNG’s EPC contractor is CCS JV, a venture between Saipem, McDermott, and Chiyoda.
The project includes the development of offshore gas fields in Mozambique’s Area 1 and a 12.8 mtpa liquefaction plant at the Afungi complex.
Pouyanne said in October last year that TotalEnergies and its partners were working to restart construction on the giant LNG project by the end of 2024.
He said at the time the project was expected to launch operations in 2029.
“Today, I think we told you 2029. If we lose six months, we’re 2029, 2030, but the idea is to be able to launch the project,” he said last month during TotalEnergies’ 2024 results and 2025 objectives presentation in London.