Afungi, Mozambique, Jan. 30, 2026 (Lusa) - The Mozambican president has announced that construction of the Rovuma LNG liquefied natural gas (LNG) megaproject in Cabo Delgado, led by US oil company ExxonMobil, is expected to begin in about a year.
"Our government, in collaboration with the concessionaires, has been taking steps to ensure the sustainability of security measures in Cabo Delgado province and in the country as a whole. We therefore reaffirm our commitment (...) to ensure that, in the near future, within the next 12 to 18 months, we will return to this location to witness the start of construction of Rovuma LNG," said Daniel Chapo on Thursday.
The position was taken precisely in Afungi, Cabo Delgado, at the official resumption of the $20 billion (€17.5 million) LNG megaproject led by TotalEnergies, almost five years after the “force majeure” clause was triggered due to attacks by extremists, lifted in October by the Rovuma Basin Area 01 consortium.
ExxonMobil announced on 20 November that it had lifted the “force majeure” declaration for the natural gas megaproject in Cabo Delgado, an essential step towards the Final Investment Decision (FID), scheduled for 2026.
The decision was confirmed by an official source at the oil company, which suspended the Rovuma LNG gas project, one of the largest in Africa, valued at US$30 billion (€25.9 billion), following the attacks in 2021.
"We have lifted the force majeure declaration for the Rovuma LNG project," said an ExxonMobil spokesperson, recalling that it is associated with TotalEnergies' megaproject in the same area, with planned infrastructure sharing in Afungi, Palma region.
The Mozambican president said on 12 November that ExxonMobil should move forward with the FID before July 2026: "In our talks in Houston [US, on 29 October] with ExxonMobil, it became clear that once Total's project [which provides for infrastructure sharing] is resumed, they will also start working with us so that by the middle of next year [2026], late June/July, there may be an investment decision from Exxon".
Lusa had already reported that ExxonMobil had agreed to follow TotalEnergies' resumption of the Rovuma LNG project due to improvements in safety.
"We are analysing and trying to do the same, so I would say that the project is now moving forward and we feel very good about it (...) and we are working closely with Total," said the US oil company's chief executive on 31 October.
Darren Woods added that "the security situation has improved dramatically," alluding to the attacks that have been taking place in Cabo Delgado for eight years and which in 2021 led TotalEnergies to invoke the “force majeure” clause to suspend construction of the complex in Afungi, which will share infrastructure with ExxonMobil, both onshore, operating from the Rovuma Basin.
In addition to ExxonMobil, the consortium includes Italy's Eni and China's China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), which hold a 70% stake in the Area 4 Exploration and Production Concession Contract.
ExxonMobil had predicted the FID approval for the end of 2025 and then for the beginning of 2026, with LNG exports starting in 2030, with an expected capacity for Area 4 of the Rovuma Basin of 18 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), the largest projected in Africa.
The Area 1 project, led by TotalEnergies, which is currently in the restart phase, is expected to start LNG deliveries in 2029 with a capacity of 13 mtpa.
Currently, but offshore in the same basin, the consortium led by Eni already produces around seven mtpa through the Coral Sul floating platform, which started up in 2022. In October, that consortium signed the FID for the second platform of its kind, Coral Norte, which will double LNG production from 2028, an investment of US$7.2 billion.
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