After months of delays and post-election unrest, Mozambique is hopeful that the country’s first domestic production of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)—commonly used as cooking gas—will begin by early 2026, according to a senior government official.
Mozambique’s Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources, Estêvão Pale, told journalists on Monday that South African oil company Sasol has made significant progress on a gas facility expected to produce up to 30,000 tons of LPG annually.
“The project is underway, it’s moving forward. There were delays due to the protests and other issues. But we expect that by the end of the year, early next year, the project will begin to move forward,” Pale said.
The Mozambican government expects the project to reduce the country’s LPG imports by up to 70% once operational.
Sasol, which already operates gas production facilities in Inhambane, broke ground on the cooking gas project in Inhassoro on March 27, 2022.
However, the initiative faced delays due to months of social unrest and protests following the October presidential election, which reportedly left over 400 people dead and caused widespread property damage.
Despite these setbacks, Sasol announced in May 2025 that it would resume work on the $1 billion project, aiming to start production in September.
The company confirmed that the plant is already in the commissioning phase.
“This entire infrastructure is practically complete. We are now in the commissioning phase of the domestic gas plant itself. Therefore, this component of the cooking gas plant is currently undergoing commissioning between June and July.
“If all goes well, by the end of September, we will have the new plant starting production,” said Ovídeo Rodolfo, Sasol’s General Manager in Mozambique.
Mozambique’s gas emergence
Moroever, Mozambique has rapidly emerged as one of Africa’s fastest-growing gas economies, thanks to its estimated 100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves.
In 2024, the government earned $1.967 billion from LNG exports, a 14% increase from 2023, largely driven by Eni’s Coral Sul project.
Eni is also developing a second major facility: Coral Norte.
This is a $7.2 billion project that will include six production wells and produce around 3.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG.
Meanwhile, TotalEnergies is preparing to resume work on the Mozambique LNG project in Cabo Delgado Province.
This $20 billion development, suspended in 2021 due to security issues, includes two offshore gas fields and a liquefaction facility with a planned capacity of 13.12 million metric tons per year.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank has recently approved a $4.7 billion loan for the project; the largest in its 91-year history.
Additionally, ExxonMobil is expected to make a final investment decision (FID) on its $27 billion Rovuma LNG project in 2026.
While gas supplies to South Africa from the Pande reserves are slowly declining, the government in Maputo is actively accelerating domestic gas development to secure its energy future.
