Lion’s share of lenders reaffirms backing: TotalEnergies’ Mozambique LNG moves forward post‑force majeure

December 3, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

France’s energy giant TotalEnergies has shed more light on the financing of its multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off the coast of Mozambique in the wake of the UK Export Finance (UKEF) and Atradius exits. The project is getting back into the groove after a years-long hiatus.

TotalEnergies placed the Mozambique LNG project on the shelf, declaring force majeure in April 2021 in the aftermath of insurgent attacks that occurred close to the construction camp, which halted the development following an evaluation of the security situation in the north of Cabo Delgado province.

The move placed the development and start-up of the LNG project on hold. Given President Donald Trump’s zest to unleash U.S. energy dominance and the key role LNG plays in this vision, the U.S. Export-Import Bank of the United States (U.S. EXIM) board approved a $4.7 billion loan for the Mozambique LNG project.

Following the announcements made by the UK and Dutch authorities regarding the involvement of their export credit agencies, UK Export Finance (UKEF) and Atradius, in the financing of Mozambique LNG project, TotalEnergies provided further clarification on the topic.

While Mozambique LNG concluded a project financing in 2020 for a total amount of $15.4 billion with a group of approximately 30 lenders, including export credit agencies and commercial banks, the prolonged force majeure period led Mozambique LNG to negotiate with the lenders an amended financing agreement.

This was done to align the documentation with the updated project schedule. Once the force majeure was lifted by Mozambique LNG and the consortium expressed its desire to resume the project, Mozambique LNG partners decided to proceed without the participation of UKEF and Atradius, as these two export credit agencies had not yet reconfirmed their commitment.

The French player claims that the Mozambique LNG partners have unanimously agreed to provide additional equity to replace the UKEF and Atradius contributions, representing in aggregate approximately 10% of the external financing.

“TotalEnergies and its partners would like to thank the lenders representing around 90% of the external financing who have confirmed their commitment to the financing of the project, acknowledging its positive contribution to the development of Mozambique,” emphasized the energy giant.

The company said that it took note of the reports commissioned by the Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands from external advisors Clingendael and Pangea Risk regarding the human rights and security situation in Cabo Delgado, which were published on December 1, 2025, despite the fact that Atradius was no longer part of the financing.

“TotalEnergies regrets that both external advisors did not travel to Mozambique and conduct on-the-ground investigations by themselves, but produced a report relying mainly on information collected through third parties,” highlighted the firm.

Regarding the allegations of human rights abuses by members of the Mozambique Defense Forces, the French giant strongly and categorically rejected Politico’s allegation that Mozambique LNG or the company had, or could have had, any knowledge of the acts of violence reported in the Politico article and underpinning the complaint.

“All internal verifications conducted with our stakeholders confirm that neither Mozambique LNG nor, a fortiori, TotalEnergies had received at the time any information suggesting that such acts had been committed,” added the company.

Mozambique LNG is a liquefied natural gas project being developed in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique. TotalEnergies (26.5%) is a partner in the project alongside other international companies and Mozambique’s national oil company (NOC).

The tale of Mozambique LNG began with the discovery of a vast quantity of natural gas off the coast of northern Mozambique in 2010, leading to a $20 billion final investment decision (FID) in 2019. This project involves the development of the Golfinho and Atum fields in Rovuma Offshore Area 1, alongside the construction of two liquefaction trains with a total capacity of 13.1 million metric tons per year (mtpa).

The project is positioned to meet Atlantic and Asia-Pacific market needs and tap into the growing energy demands of the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Area 1 contains approximately 65 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas resources, of which 18 tcf will be developed with the first two trains.

TotalEnergies EP Mozambique Area 1, a wholly owned subsidiary of TotalEnergies SE, operates the Mozambique LNG project with a 26.5% stake, together with Mitsui E&P Mozambique Area 1 (20%), ENH Rovuma Área 1 (15%), ONGC Videsh Rovuma (10%), Beas Rovuma Energy Mozambique (10%), BPRL Ventures Mozambique (10%), and PTTEP Mozambique Area 1 (8.5%).