GLNG: ExxonMobil pushes back FID for Mozambique’s Rovuma LNG project to 2026

Supermajor ExxonMobil is pushing back its final investment decision (FID) on the Rovuma LNG project in Mozambique until 2026, Mozambique state news agency AIM reported on August 15. 

The announcement comes after a meeting a day earlier between ExxonMobil Upstream President Liam Mallon and Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi.

It marks the latest setback for the long-delayed project. Initial plans for the scheme had envisioned that FID would be taken in 2019. After the Houston-headquartered firm was slow to take a successful FID, Covid-19 then hit and severely affected project timelines.

The project’s timeline suffered another setback in 2021 when a terror attack by Islamist group al-Shabaab was carried out in the Palma District of Cabo Delgado, where TotalEnergies’ Mozambique LNG project is situated. The Mozambique LNG project is located only 200 km away from the Rovuma site.