French oil company TotalEnergies plans to restart construction work on a liquefied natural gas plant later this year, the company's chairman announced at a conference with analysts.

Patrick Pouyanne, quoted by Bloomberg, said at the same conference that "the situation has clearly improved".

Total's CEO told analysts that the insecurity situation has "clearly improved", allowing work to resume in Cabo Delgado province later this year.

Thus, with the new timetable now on the table, the start of gas production in a 20 billion dollar project could take place in 2028, and gives new impetus to the increase in interest payments on the 900 billion dollar debt, the interest on which will rise from 5% to 9% from March next year.

"The resumption of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects is crucial for bonds," commented the head of investments at Capitulum Asset Management, Lutz Roehmeyer, a Berlin-based fund manager.

"Without the resumption of construction, a new debt restructuring can only be avoided if the capital markets open up to Africa again," added the investment manager.

The news of the resumption of work comes the week after financial information agency Moody's downgraded the outlook for the economy from positive to stable, keeping the rating eight notches below investment grade.

Mozambique has three development projects approved to exploit the natural gas reserves in the Rovuma basin, classified among the largest in the world, off the coast of Cabo Delgado.