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<\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>US President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has unlocked almost $5bn in funding for a liquefied natural gas project by France\u2019s TotalEnergies in Mozambique, potentially restarting work on one of Africa\u2019s largest energy investments.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/stream\/88579f8c-187c-37aa-85b5-b61a8ee74465\" data-trackable=\"link\">Mozambique<\/a>\u2019s minister for energy said on Thursday the US Export-Import Bank (Exim) had reapproved a $4.7bn loan for the project, originally granted in 2020 during Trump\u2019s first presidency.<\/p>\n<p>Work has been frozen since 2021, when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/stream\/24f83708-9b7b-4828-9834-503a9ebdc2c1\" data-trackable=\"link\">TotalEnergies<\/a> put its project on hold after Islamist insurgents killed civilians and workers in attacks near the site in Mozambique\u2019s northern Cabo Delgado province.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement on Thursday, Estev\u00e3o Pale, Mozambique\u2019s minister for energy, told the Financial Times it welcomed the decision by Exim, which would consolidate US leadership in development of a project that \u201cwill significantly help global energy security\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are deeply grateful for President Trump and the American people\u2019s support for this important LNG project,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>American jobs are involved in the project and the funding could help maintain US influence in the region, but it comes as Trump and Elon Musk aim to cut back federal spending. The Exim loan was part of $14.9bn in senior debt financing that TotalEnergies agreed with a range of export credit agencies and banks in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Following the 2021 attacks, the French company made a declaration of force majeure, signalling elements outside its control had stopped the work. The declaration left the funding agreements frozen.<\/p>\n<p>However, TotalEnergies has indicated that the security situation has stabilised in recent months, and it has worked to persuade financial backers to restate their support. <\/p>\n<p>Chief executive Patrick Pouyann\u00e9 lobbied senior Biden administration officials to approve the funding before Trump\u2019s inauguration. He warned in letters that the transition of power could lead to \u201cadditional and lengthy delays\u201d that could \u201cundermine the financing structure, already in place and approved, and bring the entire project to a stop\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>TotalEnergies also enlisted consultancy Primus Responsum to lobby Exim to secure financing, offering a $250,000 bonus if the organisation could successfully confirm the project before Trump\u2019s inauguration in January.<\/p>\n<p>Exim did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The bank granted the approval even though Trump has embarked on a federal cost-cutting programme led by Musk\u2019s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge). The administration has also frozen most foreign aid. <\/p>\n<p>While the US support was by far the largest element of the funding package, the LNG project also initially received financial backing from the governments of the UK and the Netherlands. Exim\u2019s decision will increase pressure on those governments to offer similar reapproval of their financing.<\/p>\n<p>Pale said he was still expecting the UK and Netherlands to reconfirm their support. <\/p>\n<p>The FT <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/cacd29fb-1535-4462-bd5f-3f2bcb546a8d\" data-trackable=\"link\">reported last month <\/a>that the British government was exploring legal remedies to extricate itself from the $1.15bn commitment it made in June 2020 in direct loans and guarantees.<\/p>\n<p>Pouyann\u00e9 told investors following the company\u2019s annual results last month that he was ready to exercise all his contractual rights if export credit agencies declined their support. <\/p>\n<p>The Total-led project is one of several plans to exploit Mozambique\u2019s gas reserves. Development of the resources could transform the economy of one of southern Africa\u2019s poorest countries and provide a well-located new source of gas to meet growing demand in Asia. The approval is a boost for other projects in the country, including a larger LNG development led by ExxonMobil.<\/p>\n<aside aria-labelledby=\"aside-label\" class=\"n-content-recommended--single-story n-content-recommended--inset\" data-component=\"recommended\">\n<p class=\"n-content-recommended__title\">Recommended<\/p>\n<div class=\"o-teaser o-teaser--article o-teaser--small o-teaser--stacked o-teaser--has-image js-teaser\" data-id=\"6b7f0af8-6c59-44bb-b07a-43d4768b96fd\">\n<div class=\"o-teaser__image-container js-teaser-image-container\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/6b7f0af8-6c59-44bb-b07a-43d4768b96fd\" data-trackable=\"image-link\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"o-teaser__image-placeholder\" style=\"aspect-ratio:2311\/1300\"><\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>However, environmental campaigners have opposed the development and it has been linked to allegations of human rights abuses by Mozambican soldiers charged with securing the area.<\/p>\n<p>Kate DeAngelis, deputy director of Friends of the Earth US, criticised the re-approval as a \u201chandout to the fossil fuel industry\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the pinnacle of government waste and an egregious abuse of taxpayer dollars,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, political instability in Mozambique following disputed elections at the end of 2024 has also delayed progress on restarting the project. President Daniel Chapo, who took office in January, made protection of the gas project and suppression of an anti-government insurgency a plank of his election campaign.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/b4404ab3-40dd-41b4-b1c4-16cf8a5dfa93\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for…\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":20346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}