Project shareholders have reached an agreement with shipbuilders to extend the deadline on firming up berths for 17 newbuildings worth more than $3bn that have been pencilled in at two South Korean yards for the TotalEnergies-led Mozambique LNG scheme.

Sources close to the business said shareholders in the 12.88-million-tonnes-per-annum east African project now have until the end of March 2022 to declare on the vessels.

Nine slots for the LNG carriers have been lined up at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and eight at Samsung Heavy Industries.

Project shareholders had been due to make a decision on them at the end of May, after the berths were reserved and married with four shipowners towards the close of 2020.

Japan's Mitsui OSK Lines has signed up to five vessels and K Line four at Hyundai Samho, while compatriot NYK Line and Greece's Maran Gas Maritime have reserved four each at SHI.

But confirmation of the vessels and their charters was conditional on the project moving ahead, with the partners having the option to cancel before the May deadline.

Latest extension

In the event the May deadline was pushed back until 30 September, the original 2023 delivery dates would shift into 2024.

This came after TotalEnergies declared force majeure on the project on 26 April after a deterioration in security in Mozambique close to the project’s Afungi construction site in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

The new deadline is a fresh extension.

But in the interim, prices for LNG carriers have risen from levels in the low-$180m range in late 2020 to confirmed orders at about the $200m mark and quotes from yards of closer to $210m.

Shipowners and consultants said some form of price readjustment is likely for the Mozambique LNG newbuildings, if and when they are finally firmed up.

There has also been speculation that some upgrading to the specifications on the LNG carriers, on which the designs were finalised over two years ago, might be called for.

Stability needed

Those following Mozambique LNG said Rwandan troops, who were brought into the country in July, have calmed the security situation and pushed rebel fighters out of the immediate area.

But some reports said they have only retreated deeper into the bush and many local people have yet to regain the confidence to return to their villages.

TotalEnergies — a 26.5% stakeholder in Mozambique LNG — has slimmed down the Singapore-based team handling the project's shipping interests to what has been described as a "skeleton staff".

The major has said it is putting the $20bn, two-train project, which would be transformational to Mozambique, on ice for a year.

In September, chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said shareholders want assurances that the situation on the ground is stable as they do not want to send staff back to the project only to withdraw them again.

Pouyanne said that if the scheme moved ahead early next year, production from the plant would not start until 2026. But after this, it could be delayed into 2027.