The government guarantees to be working to create conditions to allow the resumption and implementation of new projects of natural gas exploration in the Rovuma Basin, Cabo Delgado province.

The Executive's efforts come at a time when the conflict, between Russia and Ukraine, is increasing the interest of countries, especially those in the European Union, to diversify their sources of natural gas supply.

A few days ago, in Maputo, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Max Tonela, reaffirmed that Mozambique will become a producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas, starting in the last quarter of the current year.

According to Max Tonela, most of the gas capacity to be produced is already contracted, through a tapping agreement, and a remainder available to sell in other markets.

"So, having single taker, we don't have much slack to meet demand, but we are working to create conditions for the resumption of projects and deployment of new ones, taking into account that the conflict in Europe increases the interest of countries to diversify their natural gas supply sources," he said.

Regarding the interrupted projects in Cabo Delgado province, Tonela says that the Government is monitoring and at the same time working with the concessionaires so that, given the improvement of the situation, everything will continue to occur as planned.

According to the source, the Executive and Total will work to decide the date for the resumption of work in the Rovuma Basin, but assures that it is too early to determine when this will happen.

"Our objective is to guarantee a total stabilization of the region. We have seen great progress since the intervention made by Mozambican forces, in partnership with SADC and Rwanda," he stressed.

He added that the government wants more progress to ensure stabilization and allow people to move around and return to their home areas at ease, but there is still work to be done to achieve the desired goals.

It should be noted that, the French oil company Total activated the force majeure clause that led to the suspension of construction work on plants for gas exploration and liquefaction in Afungi, as a result of the attack on the Palma district headquarters in March last year.

The suspension of activities by Total also conditioned the final investment decision for the project led by Mozambique Rovuma Venture, given the interdependence of the infrastructure in areas 1 and 4, in the Rovuma Basin.