ExxonMobil's $30bn LNG project in Mozambique to generate $150bn for fiscus

Published: 2026-05-07 13:30:22 ET XOM

Published on 05/07/2026 at 01:30 pm EDT

A proposed $30bn gas project by American supermajor ExxonMobil (NYSE: XON) in northern Mozambique is projected to contribute up to $150bn to the southern African economy over 30 years.

AIM wrote on May 7 that the group’s CEO, Arne Gibbs, said the owners of the Rovuma LNG project, which will produce 18mn tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) yearly, expect to make a final investment decision in the second half of this year.

'I would like to say that it will increase government revenue by 60% over the lifetime of this project,' Gibbs stated.

ExxonMobil is the operator of the joint venture with 25% interest. Rovuma LNG will extract gas from an acreage in Rovuma Basin in the southeastern African nation’s portion of the Indian Ocean, process it at an onshore factory before exporting it to markets across the world.

The large basin, which has attracted other supermajors including TotalEnergies (Paris: TTE, LSE: TTE, NYSE: TTE) and ENI (XSWX: ENI, NYSE: E), has up to 180 trillion cubic feet of commercially recoverable gas.

ExxonMobil says Rovuma LNG is the largest project in the history of the African continent and maintains that the revision of the technical concept represents a decisive change, following two years of engineering that culminated in the adopted modular model.

It submitted the new project development plan to the Mozambican government in April of this year, according to AIM.

“The secret to the success of this concept is very simple: economies of scale. If you can produce more on a larger scale, more volume of LNG, for the same price, you always win,” Gibbs said.