US President Donald Trump’s administration has unlocked almost $5bn in funding for a liquefied natural gas project by France’s TotalEnergies in Mozambique, potentially restarting work on one of Africa’s largest energy investments.
Mozambique’s minister for energy said on Thursday the US Export-Import Bank (Exim) had reapproved a $4.7bn loan for the project, originally granted in 2020 during Trump’s first presidency.
Work has been frozen since 2021, when TotalEnergies put its project on hold after Islamist insurgents killed civilians and workers in attacks near the site in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province.
In a statement on Thursday, Estevão Pale, Mozambique’s minister for energy, told the Financial Times it welcomed the decision by Exim, which would consolidate US leadership in development of a project that “will significantly help global energy security”.
“We are deeply grateful for President Trump and the American people’s support for this important LNG project,” he said.
While the US support was by far the largest element of the funding package, the LNG project also initially received financial backing from the governments of the UK and the Netherlands. Exim’s decision will increase pressure on those governments to offer similar reapproval of their financing.
Pale said he was still expecting the UK and Netherlands to reconfirm their support.
The FT reported last month that the British government was exploring legal remedies to extricate itself from the $1.15bn commitment it made in June 2020 in direct loans and guarantees.
The Total-led project is one of several plans to exploit Mozambique’s gas reserves. The approval is a boost for other projects in the country, including a larger LNG development led by ExxonMobil.