Mozambique attacks: Oil company says working with government, discounts link to the project

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique attacks: Oil company says working with government, discounts link to the project

12:04 CAT | 21 May 2019

File photo: Voa Portugues

The oil company Anadarko, the lead company in Mozambique’s Natural Gas Area 1 development, told Lusa on Friday (May 17) that it was working with authorities investigating the attack a week ago (May 10) in which a subcontracted worker was shot, but had discounted any link with the project.

“We are aware of a recent incident that occurred in the province of Cabo Delgado, but it does not appear to be related to the project,” the official source said. “We are working with the government to gain a better understanding of what happened,” he added, without giving further details.

“We take the safety of our people very seriously, and for that reason we do not discuss any measures” in this area, he concluded.

A worker at the construction site of the natural gas megaproject in northern Mozambique was shot in the knee when the bus he was travelling in was attacked by gunmen, news portal Zitamar reported. He remains hospitalised.

Another passenger was killed and a woman abducted during the incident in the afternoon of Friday May 10th on the only asphalt road in Palma, near the works where several Portuguese subcontractors are active.

Other workers have been victims of armed violence in the region.

A Mozambican driver working for the Portuguese firm Gabriel Couto – one of 10 Portuguese companies operating in the province of Cabo Delgado – was shot dead in February on the same day that six other construction workers were injured in attacks on vehicles.

Oil company Anadarko suspended work at the time because of the lack of security, but later concluded that the violence was unrelated to the project.

The attack of May 10 came three days after the company announced that it would resume work, and on June 18 formalise the final investment decision in the country’s largest foreign venture ever.

Attacks by armed group in Cabo Delgado have killed at least 150 people since October 2017.

Let me rephrase: Anadarko did NOT DENY information published by @ZitamarNews @TomBowk & @samratner which was factually correct. They CLARIFIED a possible implication of the article that the attack had to do with oil projects

— Eric Morier-Genoud (@emorier) May 17, 2019