Mozambique president discussed LNG, hydro projects with TotalEnergies' CEO (updated)
28/01/2025 12:14
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Mozambique, Total both committed to $20 LNG project
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Gas-to-power projects for local population being discussed
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$5 billion EDF-led hydropower project facing bottlenecks
(Adds Pouyanne quotes on hydropower project and domestic
gas-to-power projects in paragraphs 7-10)
By America Hernandez and Wendell Roelf
CAPE TOWN/PARIS, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Mozambique's
President Daniel Chapo met with Patrick Pouyanne, the chief
executive of TotalEnergies TTEF.PA , on Monday to discuss
several of the company's projects in the southern African
country, including a long-delayed $20 billion liquefied natural
gas development.
Mozambique LNG, which had been slated to restart
construction by the end of 2024 and begin producing gas in 2029,
saw that deadline slip when the French oil major last week
confirmed that force majeure had yet to be lifted on the
project.
"During the conversation, Pouyanne reaffirmed TotalEnergies'
commitment to resuming the project, currently suspended since
2021, due to security challenges in the region," Chapo said in a
post on X on Monday.
Chapo said Mozambique, reeling from months of post-election
unrest, acknowledged the importance of the Cabo Delgado project
for the country's growth prospects.
"Efforts are therefore being made to ensure the necessary
stability for its implementation," Chapo said.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of a two-day energy
summit in Tanzania.
Pouyanne, speaking Tuesday at the summit, added that they
also discussed potential gas-to-power projects for the local
population, as well as progress on a $5 billion hydropower dam
and plant Total is developing alongside EDF and Sumitomo.
The hydroelectricity project can't get underway if
Mozambique doesn't also build the expensive power lines that are
crucial to transporting the energy to paying customers, the CEO
said in a panel on barriers to private investment.
"I was discussing the issue yesterday with the president of
Mozambique, where we have a hydropower project, and I told him
we cannot start the hydro because we don't see the transmission
line behind it," Pouyanne said.
"It's difficult in terms of huge capital to attract ... You
could attract international and private investors on
infrastructure (projects), like transmission lines, but it has
to be managed ... otherwise I'm afraid this bottleneck will
remain," Pouyanne said.
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf in Capetown and America Hernandez
in Paris, Editing by Bhargav Acharya and David Evans)
((mailto:wendell.roelf@thomsonreuters.com; +27 21 461 3523;))