French oil major, TotalEnergies, has reportedly hired a Washington lobbyist to help secure key export financing for its Mozambique liquefied natural gas project. The project has been on hold for years due to security concerns and is now seeking to restart.
This is contained in a statement by the company on Wednesday, according to a report by Bloomberg.
According to the report, the French energy giant hired lobby firm Primus Responsum to help secure final approval for financing from the board of the US Export-Import Bank, which agreed in 2020 to contribute $4.7 billion for the Mozambique development, the largest share of funding for the project.
The document shows that Primus Responsum would receive a “milestone payment” of $250,000 if the Exim board approved financing for the project by January 20, the day of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The activities of the company in the filing read:
“Primus Responsum shall identify key people relevant to that assessment, including personnel within Exim and within the Biden administration, and urge them to support Exim Board approval before January 20, 2025.”
TotalEnergies has faced ongoing challenges in reviving its gas project since 2021 due to threats from an insurgency group in the southeastern African nation.
Following deadly attacks in a nearby town that claimed the lives of dozens of civilians, the company was compelled to declare force majeure and evacuate all employees from the construction site.
In October, Patrick Pouyanne, the CEO of Total, stated that the firm is still dedicated to moving forward with the project and that there has been some improvement in the security situation. He also mentioned that the company is still awaiting approval from three export credit agencies.
However, the company had previously announced a delay in the project, suggesting that efforts to resume operations have not yet yielded positive results.
The Mozambique LNG project is an onshore facility—estimated to cost $20 billion when the project was launched—would monetize the southern African nation’s major gas discoveries by liquefying and exporting them by tanker with TotalEnergies, which owns 26.5%.
The development had attracted the biggest project financing yet seen in Africa, before militant attacks near the site in 2021, which prompted Total to evacuate its personnel and suspend the development.
