India, Mozambique discuss early restart of $20bn LNG project

Indian petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri met with Mozambican minister of mineral resources and energy Carlos Zacarias on October 29 to discuss the early resumption of operations on the $20bn Mozambique LNG project, Puri said on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

“In a productive meeting with HE Carlos Zacarias, minister of mineral resources & energy of Mozambique, we discussed early resumption of operations of the strategically important $20bn LNG project in Mozambique in which Indian public sector units hold 30% stake,” Puri said. 

The project, which is operated by French company TotalEnergies, was suspended in April 2021 due to the security situation in the north of Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique. However, with the security situation improving, the project partners are now looking to resume operations as soon as possible.

The project aims to construct two liquefaction trains with a combined annual capacity of 13.1mn tonnes/year of LNG. ONGC Videsh, the overseas arm of India’s ONGC, and other Indian state-owned energy companies hold a total stake of 30% in the project.

Puri said he also discussed ways to further enhance the bilateral hydrocarbon trade, including LNG, between India and Mozambique.

“Also discussed opportunities in areas of consultancy, training, knowledge sharing and capacity building in the areas of LNG terminal, gas processing, pipeline transportation and other areas of mutual interest in which Indian companies hold huge expertise,” Puri said.