French energy giant TotalEnergies announced via its official website that on January 29, Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, met in Afungi with His Excellency Daniel Chapo, President of the Republic of Mozambique, and have announced together the full restart of Mozambique LNG project activities.
This restart of project activities onshore and offshore follows the decision made on 7 November 2025, by Mozambique LNG consortium to lift the Force Majeure that was declared in 2021 and resume project activities.
During the meeting, the government of Mozambique confirmed its commitment to work together with Mozambique LNG to support the restart of project activities and address the consequences of the Force Majeure period. In particular, the Government confirmed all measures taken to address the security and the continued cooperation with Rwanda.
Construction activities have now restarted both offshore and onshore at Afungi site, with over 4,000 workers currently mobilized of which over 3,000 are Mozambican nationals. First LNG is expected in 2029 as the project progress is currently at 40% – almost all engineering and procurement of main equipments have been executed during the force majeure period.
The Mozambique LNG project will bring significant economic benefits to Mozambique during its development phase, notably through an ambitious local content plan. The project will provide up to 7,000 direct jobs for Mozambicans during construction, and contracts awarded to Mozambican compagnies are expected to amount to more than USD 4 billion.
In addition, Mozambique LNG has launched a large-scale socio-economic development program to support local communities in Cabo Delgado province. The Mozambique LNG Foundation, established in 2023 and endowed with a budget of USD 200 million, has already delivered tangible results, with over 8,000 jobs created and 7,000 farmers and fishermen supported by the Foundation in Cabo Delgado province.
In 2020, Samsung Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries announced the signing of a letter of intent to build the aforementioned 17 LNG carriers, with each company undertaking 8 and 9 vessels respectively. The original plan called for delivery between 2024 and 2025. In 2021, due to the deteriorating security situation in Mozambique, TotalEnergies declared the project under force majeure and withdrew from the site. The project entered a prolonged delay phase, and the associated new shipbuilding projects consequently stalled.
Subsequently, the Mozambique LNG project has repeatedly been reported to be restarting, prompting multiple adjustments to the 17 LNG carriers associated with it. Since 2020, Samsung Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries have consistently reserved ship slots for this letter of intent order.
Shipyard slot reservation refers to the practice of securing a dry dock or construction slot at a shipyard in advance, which is equivalent to reserving an order before placing a formal order. Shipyards typically reserve slots for shipowners for periods of 6 months to 1 year. The fact that Samsung Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries continuously reserved slots for a single project for six years is extremely rare in the shipbuilding industry.