Maputo, 7 Mar (AIM) – Mazime Rabilloud, chairperson of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) extraction project in the Rovuma basin, off the coast of the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, denies that those companies subcontracted to work on the project are being suspended as some media recently reported.
According to Rabilloud, speaking to reporters after meeting the governor of Cabo Delgado, Valige Tuabo, what really happened is that some companies, whose contracts are over, are not renewing them.
“Everyone knows that we are still in a situation of force majeure”, he said. “At a time of force majeure, obviously there is no restart of the project yet. In the meantime, we’re doing a lot of preservation work and preparing for a restart. These works are not necessarily continuous, there are some that have a beginning and an end”, he said.
In April 2021, the French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies declared force majeure to suspend all activities on the project, due to a major raid by islamist terrorists against the town of Palma.
The Mozambique LNG Project, budgeted at 20 billion US dollars, began with the discovery of over 65 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Rovuma Basin, which led TotalEnergies and its partners to take a Final Investment Decision in 2019.
The project includes two gas liquefaction units to be built on the Afungi Peninsula, with an expansion capacity of up to 43 million tonnes of LNG per year.
Rabilloud told reporters that there is no set date for the resumption of LNG exploitation activities. In addition to the security concerns that led to the declaration of “force majeure” and the subsequent suspension of the project, there are also financial issues, as some export banks that had committed to financing the project with around 16 billion dollars have yet to confirm their support.
(AIM)
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