PARIS (Reuters) – TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said on Wednesday that financing from the United States for its $20 billion Mozambique LNG project is expected to be approved in coming weeks, with other credit agencies to follow in the months after.
The company is waiting for loan re-approvals from the United States, UK and Dutch export credit agencies before lifting a force majeure on the project that has been in place since 2021.
Speaking to journalists after reporting fourth-quarter earnings, Pouyanne said he expected a prior loan approval to be restored fairly quickly under the Trump administration.
He added that the project completion date would need to be pushed back to 2029-2030, from a previously planned 2027.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank had previously agreed a $4.7 billion loan for the project but it needs to be re-approved, after construction on the project was frozen in 2021 due to violent unrest in the northern Cabo Delgado region near the project site — before any disbursements were made.
Pouyanne said that Britain, which has pledged around $800 million to $1 billion, is looking to see if it has a legal right to exit, but noted it had already signed a contract on the financing.
“I am waiting to see how they will explain it to us,” he said.
(Reporting by Benjamin Mallet and America Hernandez. Writing by Dominique Patton; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
