After a significant improvement in the security situation in Cabo Delgado province, ExxonMobil officially lifted the force majeure declaration for the Rovuma LNG project in November 2025.

Recently, Mozambican President Daniel Chappo announced that the American energy giant plans to make a final investment decision on the project in the second half of 2026. The estimated investment for the Rovuma LNG project is around 20 billion to 30 billion US dollars, with an initial liquefaction capacity designed for 18 million tons per year. Once completed, it will become one of the largest new LNG projects in the world.

A bet on African energy between $20 billion and $150 billion

Rovuma LNG is located in Area 4 of the Rovuma Basin in Cabo Delgado Province, northern Mozambique, and is operated by ExxonMobil. Project equity structure: Eni East Africa (composed of Eni, ExxonMobil, and PetroChina) holds 70%, while ENH, Kogas, and ADNOC XRG each hold 10%.

The project is expected to generate a total revenue of approximately $150 billion during its operational period, making it the largest natural gas development project in Africa and the largest private investment project in Mozambique. The natural gas reserves in the Rovuma Basin of Mozambique exceed 85 trillion cubic feet, providing resource support for multiple LNG projects. At present, the front-end engineering design of the project has entered the final stage - the first stage of FEED is led by McDermott, jointly organized by Saiban and CPECC, and carried out parallel FEED work by JGC and Desinip simultaneously.

Mozambique LNG cluster surfaced

With the continuous improvement of the security situation, the Mozambique LNG project cluster is accelerating its formation. At present, three LNG projects have been approved or put into operation in the country: Coral Sul FLNG (with an annual production capacity of 3.4 million tons) has been put into operation in 2022; Coral Norte FLNG (with an annual production capacity of 3.5 million tons) is expected to be put into operation in 2028, with FID scheduled for October 2025 and constructed by Samsung Heavy Industries; Total Energy's Mozambique LNG (with an annual production capacity of 13.1 million tons) is expected to be put into operation in 2029. Combined with ongoing construction and planned production capacity, Mozambique is expected to become one of the top three LNG exporting countries in Africa by the early 2030s. ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods reiterated that the partners are aiming to complete FID by the end of the year.Editor/Cheng Liting