The Mozambican government has reconfirmed a sovereign guarantee of US$2.2 billion extended to lenders of the Mozambique LNG project, led by France’s TotalEnergies in Area 1 of the Rovuma Basin in Cabo Delgado province, extending its validity to March 2029 in line with the project’s revised financial schedule.

The decision is contained in Council of Ministers Resolution No. 85/2026, which reaffirms the validity of the guarantee originally issued on 24 April 2020 under Decree No. 102/2019 of 31 December. The resolution maintains the maximum guaranteed amount and the conditions previously established with the project’s financiers, according to state news agency Lusa. The measure preserves the beneficiaries, guaranteed obligations, applicable legislation, arbitration provisions, and the waiver of immunity set out in the original agreements.

The resolution also authorises the minister responsible for Finance, acting on behalf of the Mozambican state, to sign and issue a Sovereign Guarantee Confirmation Letter, designed to align the guarantee’s validity with the updated financial schedule of Mozambique LNG.

Under the revised documentation, the project completion date — designated as the Completion Date in the financial instruments — has been set at 25 March 2029. The decision follows an update of the project’s financial instruments, after construction was suspended for approximately four years due to the security crisis triggered by armed attacks in Cabo Delgado.

The government clarified, however, that the measure does not constitute the issuance of a new guarantee or an increase in the financial obligations previously assumed by the state, describing it as a reconfirmation of existing commitments.

On 20 October, following the Cabinet meeting that approved the measure, government spokesperson Inocêncio Impissa explained that the decision is intended to ensure the continuity of investment and preserve the confidence of financial partners.

“What is being done today is simply to say: what we said in 2019, we reiterate the same guarantee so that investments continue to proceed normally,” he said.

He added that no circumstances had been identified to date that would justify changes to the financial commitments originally established. “So far there is nothing to indicate that the initial agreements reached with these entities need to be amended,” he said.

The reconfirmation of the sovereign guarantee comes as Mozambique LNG seeks to consolidate the resumption of operations, after TotalEnergies restarted execution of the project in January this year following four years of suspension on force majeure grounds.

The project, valued at approximately US$20 billion, envisages the development of the Golfinho and Atum gas fields and the installation of two liquefaction trains with a combined estimated production capacity of 13 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year.

First production is scheduled for 2029, according to the announced project timeline. Construction was halted in 2021 following the armed attacks that affected the Cabo Delgado region.

Mozambique LNG forms part of the broader strategy to develop the natural gas reserves of the Rovuma Basin, considered among the largest hydrocarbon discoveries in the world in recent decades.

Beyond the TotalEnergies-led project, Mozambique is also home to the Rovuma LNG project, led by US major ExxonMobil and valued at approximately US$30 billion, with an estimated production capacity of 18 million tonnes of LNG per year. The country also operates the Coral Sul FLNG project, run by Italy’s Eni in Area 4, which has been producing and exporting liquefied natural gas since 2022.

The maintenance of the sovereign guarantee is intended to ensure continuity of the financial commitments associated with the project without altering the maximum ceiling of the guarantee previously granted. It constitutes a contingent liability for the state, whose potential impact on public finances will depend on the conditions established in the financial instruments and any eventual enforcement of the guarantee by creditors.