French supermajor TotalEnergies and its co-venturers have finally lifted the four-year force majeure on their $20 billion Mozambique LNG project, where construction had been halted following an Islamist terrorist attack that brought construction to a halt.

Notice was sent to the Mozambican government via a letter on Friday, a TotalEnergies spokesperson told Reuters.

However, the energy giant issued a caveat — stating the liquefied natural gas project would only be relaunched once the host government approves an updated budget and schedule.

"Before fully relaunching the project, Mozambique's council of ministers needs to approve an addendum to the plan of development," TotalEnergies reportedly said.

Upstream has approached TotalEnergies for independent comment.

The operator of the 13 million tonnes per annum project believes Mozambique LNG will now commence operations in 2029, around five years later than initially expected.

Partner Bharat Petroleum last year said that costs related to security issues and the four-year construction halt had added at least $4 billion to the project's stated $20 billion capex; and the partners have been in negotiations with the Mozambique government to decide how the additional costs should be split.

Mozambique LNG today is 40% complete. Remaining works will take place in "containment mode", with workers allowed in by air or sea only for security reasons, TotalEnergies said at its 29 September Investor Day.

TotalEnergies’ country manager Maxime Rabilloud in September told local media: “We are preparing to lift force majeure; we are working hard to restart the project.”

Engineering is 90% complete, gas turbines are under construction overseas, while completed components "should begin arriving shortly after the force majeure is lifted,” Rabilloud was quoted by state news agency AIM.

Italy’s Saipem is now the main engineering procurement and construction contractor for the two-train liquefaction project as McDermott of the US and Japan’s Chiyoda (the other two original partners in the CCS consortium selected to build the facility) are now playing a more limited role following their financial issues in recent years.

Contracts have been agreed for almost 90% of Mozambique LNG’s 13 million tpa output, TotalEnergies earlier said; with long-term customers including China's CNOOC, EDF of France and British supermajor Shell. Part of the gas is reserved for Mozambique's state energy company ENH.

Mozambique LNG is operated by TotalEnergies (26.5%) on behalf of partners Mitsui of Japan (20%); ENH (15%); India’s Bharat Petroleum, Oil India and ONGC Videsh (10% apiece); and Thailand’s national upstream company PTTEP (8.5%).