Meeting between the Mozambican Executive and managers of the French oil company will be used to discuss the details of the conditions required by the group to resume the natural gas exploration project in Area 1 of the Rovuma Basin.

The government will soon meet with TotalEnergies to address safety issues, related to the liquefied natural gas exploration project in the Rovuma Basin, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Max Tonela, said yesterday.

According to "O País", the information provided by the governor follows the progress that the joint force of Mozambique, Rwanda and SADC has been recording in the Northern Operational Theatre, where it is fighting terrorism. Moreover, the fact opens new perspectives on the return of the consortium led by Total, which suspended the project's activities due to force majeure after the attack on the town of Palma.

"We have a discussion mechanism with Total's management about the issues associated with the implementation of the project," the minister introduced, detailing that "one of the conditions established for the resumption of the project is the guarantee of security, stability and return of the population to the areas where the project will be implemented. We foresee, soon, meetings to discuss the details, but we realize that, a few days ago, Total's CEO already mentioned that he expects the project to start operating in 2026, which means that there are indications that next year the project will resume activities.

Ernesto Max Tonela's explanation comes about 24 hours after the Minister of Economy and Finance, Adriano Maleiane, said at a conference organized by the African Development Bank, one of the project's financial backers, that there is hope that work on the Afungi Peninsula will resume before the one-year deadline given by Total to the Mozambican government to solve the problem of insecurity.