Mozambique: LNG takes lead in country’s exports

Mozambique’s gas exports continue to rise, growing 2% between January and September 2025 to over $1.495 billion official data show. According to data from a Bank of Mozambique report detailing exports, sales of natural gas abroad up to the end of the third quarter of last year compare with almost US$1.467 billion in the same nine months of 2024. Higher prices and export volumes drove the performance.

Natural gas continues to consolidate its lead as the country’s most exported product. Coal held this position until mid-2025 but fell to $1.205 billion, compared to $1.54 billion billion in the first nine months of 2024. The document explained that production stoppages at some metallurgical coal companies and a 13.1% drop in average international market prices caused the $335 million annual fall in coal export revenue.

Mozambique has three approved development projects to exploit natural gas reserves in the Rovuma basin (an offshore area with some of the world’s largest gas deposits) off the coast of Cabo Delgado. Eni’s Coral Sul project is the only one operating since 2022. Last October, investors approved investment in a second floating extraction platform, Coral Norte.

[paywall]

This $7.2 billion investment should allow production to double to 7 million tonnes per year (mtpa) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from 2028. After a four-year suspension due to terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado, the $20 billion Mozambique LNG project (Area 1), operated by TotalEnergies, officially resumed in January. It expects to produce up to 13 mtpa from 2029.

ExxonMobil’s $30 billion Rovuma LNG project (Area 4) aims for 18 mtpa after 2030. The company expects a final investment decision this year.

[/paywall]