The multinational TotalEnergies has once again postponed the resumption of its natural gas production project in the Rovuma Basin Area, in Cabo Delgado province.

The company had planned to return to work on Mozambican soil in 2024, but post-election protests have led to a further setback, according to the FT.

Quoting TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné, the newspaper reports that the firm's forecast was to return in October 2024, with a production target of 2025.

The post-election protests in Mozambique began on October 21, 2024, with the then presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane claiming victory in the October 9 elections.

The same source said that TotalEnergies had planned to meet with the new President of the Republic, Daniel Chapo, but the same reasons forced a postponement.

The Mozambique LNG project is also facing possible delays due to uncertainties over funding before 2020. US funding through a 4.7 billion dollar loan was frozen after the declaration of force majeure in 2021, while the UK ended export financing for fossil fuel projects.

The development in the Rovuma Basin, in which the French company has a 26.5% stake, has capacity for 13 million tons of LNG per year. This makes it one of the French company's largest sources of LNG in a pipeline of projects due to start in 2030, according to a presentation at the company's investor day in October.