2023-07-06 17:00:17
Rwandan police stand guard at the Total site in Afungi, Mozambique, in September 2022. CAMILLE LAFFONT / AFP
Nothing is official yet, but following two years of suspension following a jihadist attack, the Mozambique LNG gas megaproject, in which TotalEnergies is a 26.5% shareholder, should soon be relaunched in the province of Cabo Delgado.
“We have noted improvements in the security situation, but the case of force majeure is still ongoing. There is no restart date at this time,” ensure with caution Monde the French hydrocarbon giant. According to a source familiar with the matter, “the multinational does not officially announce its return so as not to create an announcement effect and create a kind of ‘D-Day’”; nevertheless, “The subcontractors are back and the activities have been ramping up for a few weeks: it is therefore the gradual return to Mozambique of a very large-scale project which will employ nearly 15,000 people”.
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Hurry up. Before the suspension of activities, part of the production had already been pre-sold to Japan, the United Kingdom, Indonesia and to the French energy company EDF. Valued at 23 billion dollars (around 21.1 billion euros), the liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant project aims to produce up to 43 million tonnes of gas per year. The largest industrial project on the African continent to date, it has already experienced its share of imponderables.
In April 2021, TotalEnergies decided to withdraw its staff, citing a case of force majeure, following the multiplication of attacks in the area by a jihadist rebellion affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) organization. Two years later, the surroundings of the site, still under construction, have been largely secured, in particular by the Rwandan defense forces, but caution is still required.
A precarious calm
In an attempt to limit the criticisms to which it is subject, particularly on its African projects (such as in Uganda), and to assess the impact of its operations in Mozambique, TotalEnergies has commissioned Jean-Christophe Rufin, writer, humanitarian and former ambassador from France to Senegal (2007-2010), a report on the socio-economic situation in the province of Cabo Delgado.
In this 50-page public document submitted to the multinational in March, the academic first recalls that the origins of the conflict predate the gas development projects. He then explains that the return to calm is precarious: “The fighting that accompanied these operations [de libération des villes] led to the break-up of the rebel groups into several units. According to the Red Cross, the conflict is not over and the active presence of armed groups is set to last. »
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