Mozambique looks to revive gas deals

CLAIRE DOYEN

Global energy giants were quick to halt their Mozambican gas projects when jihadist violence erupted on their doorsteps. After months of calm, reviving those multi-billion-dollar projects is a much slower job.

TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne visited Maputo on Monday, saying he was optimistic about the US$20-billion project.

"A lot of progress has been done, let me be clear," Pouyanne said, but added more work was needed to ensure lasting peace. "Security is not only a matter of armed forces," he said. "It's also a question to work together with the population."

Vast natural gas deposits were discovered in the northern province of Cabo Delgado in 2010, the largest ever found south of the Sahara. Once tapped, Mozambique could become one of the world's 10 biggest exporters.

Since then, the Muslim-majority province has attracted three mega-projects: TotalEnergies' Mozambique LNG, ExxonMobile's Rovuma LN, and ENI's Coral-Sul FLNG.

But in late 2017, armed insurgents began launching raids in the region, located near the Tanzanian border. Jihadists committed a series of beheadings and torched entire villages, claiming allegiance to the Islamic State. Since then, 3 500 people have been killed, and 820 000 have fled their homes.

Last March, insurgents made a surprise attack on the coastal town of Palma, the gas-hub near the TotalEnergies project, which the company promptly suspended.

"TotalEnergies should return this year, if it's going to meet its 2026 production goal," said Borges Nhamirre, a Maputo-based researcher for the Institute of Security Studies.

Of the three projects, only ENI's is on track. The Italian company's LNG facility is entirely offshore. ENI told AFP that it's set to begin production in the second half of 2022.

Coral Sul, the first floating LNG facility deployed in deep waters off Africa, arrived in Mozambique in early January. Once operational, it can produce 3.4 million tonnes of LNG a year. -AFP