(AFP / DENIS CHARLET)
The TotalEnergies group indicated on Wednesday that the restart of the Mozambique LNG mega-gas project, suspended since 2021 after a jihadist attack, was still subject to the restoration of “security” in the Cabo Delgado region and the lifting of “force majeure “.
The group was responding to an article in the Financial Times stating that the French major had “further delayed” the resumption of the project, given security problems and political uncertainties in this country, which TotalEnergies did not confirm.
“The priority is to restore peace and security in Cabo Delgado and to lift force majeure,” TotalEnergies said in a statement to the Financial Times confirmed to AFP.
The group suspended this gas exploration project in April 2021 and declared a force majeure situation after a jihadist attack that occurred a few kilometers from the site, in the province of Cabo Delgado. Force majeure allows a contract signatory to release itself from its obligations in the event of an unforeseeable and insurmountable event.
TotalEnergies has a 26.5% stake in this project with an investment amount of 20 billion dollars, which mainly targets customers in Asia, alongside Mozambican partners or the Japanese Mitsui (20%).
-The CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné had mentioned a relaunch of the project for the start of 2024. Then in front of investors in October, he indicated that the objective of starting production in 2029 was “linked to the restart of the project by the end of the year” (2024). If he had noted “progress on the ground” in terms of security, he also indicated that he was waiting for the “green light” from three credit agencies for its financing.
The CEO also indicated that he planned to meet the president of Mozambique after the election, at the end of October, a meeting which has still not taken place. President Daniel Chapo, whose election was hotly contested, was inaugurated on January 15, after weeks of violent demonstrations which left more than 300 dead according to a local NGO.
Rich in gas deposits, the province of Cabo Delgado, facing the Indian Ocean, has been the target of attacks by jihadist groups affiliated with the Islamic State group since 2017.
In September, Politico relayed accusations of abuses committed by soldiers responsible for protecting the site of the TotalEnergies subsidiary Mozambique LNG after the 2021 attack. The subsidiary responded that it had “not identified any information or evidence likely to corroborate the allegations of abuse and torture made in the Politico article.
A coalition of 126 NGOs, which had written to 31 financial institutions, denounced on Wednesday the fact that none “agreed to publicly call for an independent international investigation into the alleged massacre of civilians”, according to a press release from several NGOs including Urgewald and Friends of the Earth.
