Total inks $14.9 billion debt financing for Mozambique LNG

French energy giant Total said Friday it has signed a $14.9 billion senior debt financing deal for its Mozambique LNG project, the biggest project financing ever in Africa.

The project includes the development of the Golfinho and Atum natural gas fields located in Offshore Area 1 concession.

Gas will be sent to a two-train liquefaction plant in Cabo Delgado with a total capacity of 13.1 mtpa.

Total says Mozambique LNG represents a total post-FID investment of $20 billion.

The $14.9 billion financing includes direct and covered loans from eighth export credit agencies ans 19 commercial bank facilities.

The African Development Bank also participated in the financing.

The agencies include US EXIM bank, Japan’s JBIC and NEXI, UK Export Finance, Italy’s SACE, South Africa’s ECIC, the Netherlands’ Atradius, and EXIM Thailand.

Anadarko and its co-venturers in Area 1 sanctioned Mozambique LNG in June 2019.

The French company acquired Anadarko’s 26.5 percent interest in the LNG project in September last year for $3.9 billion.

Total’s finance chief Jean-Pierre Sbraire said the project financing “represents a significant achievement and a major milestone.”

“It demonstrates the confidence placed by the financial institutions in the long-term future of LNG in Mozambique,” Sbraire said.

The news about Mozambique LNG financing has been hitting global media headlines for months this year.

There were many different reports and the final financing numbers varied from 14.4 billion to $16 billion.

But this is not surprising as this move is one of the biggest deals in the LNG industry this year along the giant Qatari ship orders.

Total said previously it expected Mozambique LNG production to begin by 2024.

Total’s partners in the project are Japan’s Mitsui, Mozambique’s ENH, Thailand’s PTT and Indian firms ONGC, Bharat Petroleum and Oil India.