Comunicação - Imprensa
TotalEnergies wants to resume gas project in Mozambique this year – Pouyanné after meeting with Nyusi in Maputo
TotalEnergies plans to resume this year the natural gas project in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, which was suspended in March 2021 after an armed attack, said the company’s chief executive Patrick Pouyanné.
“My goal is that [the project] restarts in 2022, but I am not alone. We are ready”, he said at the Presidency of the Republic building in Maputo, after a meeting with the Mozambican head of state, Filipe Nyusi.
The construction of the gas liquefaction plant, extracted from the seabed (about 40 kilometres offshore) is the largest currently financed private investment in Africa and was suspended in March 2021.
An armed attack on the town of Palma, which was home to subcontractors and many of the project’s workers, led to the use of “force majeure” (a contractual term for “force majeure”, in which neither party can be held responsible) to stop all the work in progress.
“I am optimistic”, said Pouyanné, about the resumption of works, although without commitments.
The CEO of TotalEnergies said that the next time he returns to Mozambique, he wants to be able to go “to Palma, Mocímboa da Praia and Mueda”
“When I see that life is back to normal, with State services and the population, then the project can start over”, he said.
Patrick Pouyanné said that “a lot of progress has already been made and I want to congratulate the Mozambican authorities who together with Rwanda and SADC [Southern African Development Community] managed to get a lot done”.
