Filipe Nyusi, the president of Mozambique, confirmed on Wednesday (3 May 2023) that the prerequisites are in place for TotalEnergies to resume its massive natural gas exploitation project in the nation, which has been put on hold since 2021 as a result of a significant jihadist attack a short distance away.
Since late 2017, armed groups have been committing acts of violence against the poor but resource-rich northeastern province of Cabo Delgado, which borders Tanzania and has a mainly Muslim population. Over 2,000 civilians have been killed in the nearly 4,700 deaths so far. There have been one million evictions.
The French company was compelled to halt a 16.5-billion-euro natural gas development project until further notice at the end of March 2021 after a coordinated attack on the seaside town of Palma. There was an evacuation of building sites on the Afungi peninsula.
“The cooperation and coordination with Total is very good. The working environment is conducive for the company to resume operations at any time,” said Filipe Nyusi, speaking at a mining and energy conference in the Mozambican capital Maputo.
Regarding the potential to resume operations in Mozambique, TotalEnergies has been circumspect for a while. During a visit to the nation in February, its CEO, Patrick Pouyanné, spoke with the president of Mozambique.
The Italian subsidiary of the French firm, Saipem, declared last month that it was getting ready to start up again and that “safety has improved.”
