French energy giant TotalEnergies resumes Mozambique $20 billion project as insurgency slows

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - French energy giant TotalEnergies announced on Thursday the resumption of its $20 billion gas project in northern Mozambique that was halted in 2021 because of an insurgency in the area that killed thousands and displaced more than 1 million people.

The liquefied natural gas project has been billed as one of Africa's largest energy investments and one that is expected to deliver economic growth to the struggling nation of 34 million people on the southeastern coast of Africa.

Announcing the "full restart" of operations, TotalEnergies' CEO Patrick Pouyanné said the company expects first gas deliveries in 2029, promising "a massive ramp-up of activity in the coming months."

"The force majeure is over," Pouyanné said at an event attended by Mozambique President Daniel Chapo in Afungi, the site of the project in the gas-rich Cabo Delgado region.

TotalEnergies froze operations there in April 2021 as the rebel movement gained strength and attacks spread across Cabo Delgado, destabilizing communities near the project site.

In response, Mozambique enlisted troops from the Southern African Development Community, or SADC, as well as Rwanda. While SADC forces withdrew in 2024 when their mandate expired, Rwandan troops remain deployed. Fighting has since decreased, though sporadic clashes continue.

Chapo was elected in 2024 on a platform of economic recovery and improved security. He said the project's resumption would help shift "prejudice that in Cabo Delgado it's all about terrorism."

"When you talk about Cabo Delgado, terrorism is the first thing that comes to mind," he said. "And it was necessary to show the world, the country, the region, and the continent that in Cabo Delgado, in Afungi, the work has actually resumed."

He described the restart as "a decisive step in the strategy of Mozambique to develop its resources, grow its economy, create jobs," and "a milestone for the resumption of economic growth and confidence in the future."

Chapo said the project would generate billions of dollars in revenue for his government, which, alongside investors from India, Japan and Thailand, holds a minority stake in the project.

Pouyanné said the project would deliver "jobs and prosperity" to the region and help establish long-term peace. More than 4,000 workers will be employed on the project, 80% of them Mozambican nationals, including young people receiving training in trades such as carpentry and electrical work, the CEO added.

He also pledged to provide aid following devastating floods earlier this month that killed some 300 people in Mozambique and neighboring South Africa and Zimbabwe, according to U.N. agencies.