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Mozambican President Daniel Chapo said he expects to soon conclude talks with TotalEnergies SE over the restart of a US$20 billion natural-gas project that halted four years ago because of an Islamic State-linked insurgency.
President Chapo earlier this month met with Total chief executive officer Patrick Pouyanne to discuss resuming the project that has the potential to transform the economy of one of the world’s poorest countries, he said in a July 19 interview.
Mozambique’s US$900 million in bonds due 2031 rallied as much as 1,4 percent to the highest level since October, reaching 86,265 cents on the dollar by 12:28 p.m. in Maputo, the capital.
“I was with Mr Pouyanne two weeks ago and things are going well,” President Chapo said.
“In August, we will close our talks” about when to restart the project, he said.
Total halted work on Mozambique LNG, located in the northeastern Cabo Delgado province, evacuated workers and declared force majeure in 2021 after an escalation in rebel attacks in the area.
The raids by the insurgents, which have since prompted the deployment of troops by both Rwanda and, for a while, Mozambique’s neighbours to assist, drained momentum from the development of US$50 billion worth of liquefied natural-gas projects, with Eni SpA and Exxon Mobil Corp also developing plants.
“We have the small problem of jihad, terrorism,” President Chapo said. In an earlier interview with Bloomberg in Spain, the president said that while the region is more stable than four years ago, it isn’t “heaven,” but urged a restart nevertheless.
President Chapo was scheduled to meet Pouyanne in Maputo, Mozambique’s capital, on July 10.
The gas reserves discovered 15 years ago off Mozambique’s northeastern coast are among the world’s biggest. — Bloomberg
