"The mandate for renewable energy comes from Congress and coincides with what the Government asked us to do", said Reta Jo Lewis in an interview with Bloomberg, in which she highlighted that it is also her objective to increase the number of projects in African countries, including the construction of two solar plants in Angola and participation in the TotalEnergies natural gas exploration project in Mozambique.
"We are interested in all types of projects, in all sectors", added the official, referring to the desire to increase financing in Africa.
In June, Eximbank approved a direct loan of more than 900 million dollars for the construction of two solar plants in Angola, one of the largest investments in clean energy made by this agency that promotes exports from the United States.
Speaking to Bloomberg in Johannesburg, on her fourth visit to sub-Saharan Africa since February last year, Reta Jo Lewis explained that the participation of 4.7 billion dollars in the TotalEnergies megaproject in Mozambique, for a total amount of around 25 thousand million dollars, is under analysis due to new financial conditions.
"About this particular loan, which was approved by the previous Government, this process is in the 'due diligence' process, and I can't say anything more," said Reta Jo Lewis, referring to the set of checks that any financial entity has to do before disbursing funds to a client.
The North American agency has already disbursed around 1.6 billion dollars this year for projects in Africa, increasing exposure to 7 billion dollars. must think that a project is too small or too big".
Mozambique has three development projects approved to explore natural gas reserves in the Rovuma basin, classified among the largest in the world, off the coast of Cabo Delgado.
Two of these projects are larger and plan to channel gas from the bottom of the sea to land, cooling it in a factory to export it by sea in a liquid state.
One is led by TotalEnergies (Area 1 consortium) and the works progressed until it was suspended for an indefinite period, after an armed attack on Palma, in March 2021, when the French energy company declared that it would only resume work when the area was safe, which could happen by the end of this year.
