TotalEnergies Seeks Billions More to Restart Mozambique LNG Project

TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne clarified that the total budget for the Mozambique LNG project is $20.5 billion, not $25 billion as some media reports suggested, emphasizing that $4.5 billion has been spent during a four-year freeze under force majeure. The company has set six conditions to end the force majeure and restart the project, including Mozambique covering all security costs, accepting the $4.5 billion cost of closure, and allowing TotalEnergies significantly more profit, with production now expected to start in 2029, a five-year delay. These demands involve renegotiations to extend the contract by ten years and changes to the profit-sharing arrangements with the government and its shareholder Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH). The Mozambican government has acknowledged that further negotiations will take place following these demands, which were viewed as controversial and leaked to the press. Meanwhile, TotalEnergies reported an adjusted net operating income of $852 million for its Integrated LNG segment in the third quarter of 2025, despite a decline in hydrocarbon production with LNG output at 482 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day. This situation highlights the complex financial and security challenges surrounding the restart of the Mozambique LNG project.