The government of Mozambique is ready to lift the force majeure imposed on TotalEnergy’s LNG project in the country as soon as the company applies for this, the country’s energy minister said.
Noting that the security environment in the area had improved considerably, Estevao Pale said that “We, as government, are doing everything that we can to be able to resume the project,” adding that “We are working together with all partners on the project to create the security conditions favourable to restart the project.”
The Mozambique LNG project—which is under construction—suspended activities in 2021 under force majeure conditions caused by violence from rebel groups in the area. With a price tag of $20 billion, Mozambique LNG will liquefy gas from two offshore fields, Golfinho and Atum, with an annual processing capacity of 13.12 million tons.
The facility is the biggest liquefied natural gas project in Africa and the biggest foreign investment on the continent as well. TotalEnergies is operator with 26%, in partnership with Japan’s Mitsui & Co, Thailand’s PTTEP, and Mozambique’s state energy firm ENH.
Meanwhile, one of the funders of the project, the UK government, was earlier this year reported to be looking for a way to get out of its investment commitment, in line with its net-zero policies. Earlier this week, the Financial Times reported that the UK Export Finance agency had commissioned a human right review for the project on allegations of abuse, made by Mozambican soldiers that were deployed to protect the facility.
The government agency had employed the services of legal firm Beyond Human Rights Compliance to investigate the allegations, the FT said, citing unnamed sources. TotalEnergies, however, was a step ahead, having asked the Mozambican authorities to investigate these allegations last year. The Mozambican government launched the investigation in March this year.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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