$95 billion of gas revenue over 25 years

Mozambique’s government expects to reap $95 billion of revenue over 25 years from natural-gas deposits being developed in the country — more than seven times larger than its gross domestic product. Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Rovuma LNG project, for which the cabinet approved the development plan this week, is expected to generate $46 billion of income for the state, according to a statement posted on the government’s website Thursday. That adds to the $49 billion of revenue anticipated from two other LNG projects being developed nearby by Eni SpA and Anadarko Petroleum Corp., it said in June. Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Rovuma LNG project, for which the cabinet approved the development plan this week, is expected to generate $46 billion of income for the state, according to a statement posted on the government’s website Thursday. That adds to the $49 billion of revenue anticipated from two other LNG projects being developed nearby by Eni SpA and Anadarko Petroleum Corp., it said in June.

The liquefied-natural-gas projects the three companies plan to build in Cabo Delgado province will be transformational for the world’s sixth-poorest nation, which is still recovering from a civil war that ended in 1992. Mozambique’s GDP was less than $13 billion in 2017, according to the World Bank. Mozambique’s economy has also struggled since the government defaulted on $2 billion of debt in 2017,  the bulk of which the authorities hid from donors and the International Monetary Fund.

The government is in restructuring talks with holders of its $727 million Eurobonds, and has reached an early agreement to pay them 5% of its revenue from the Eni and Anadarko projects, up to a maximum $500 million. It has reached a similar preliminary deal with Russia’s VTB Capital for another of the loans that made up the $2 billion. The Rovuma project will cost about $23 billion to develop, according to the government statement. Standard Bank Group estimated in a March report that the Exxon project could cost as much as $33 billion.