Mozambique: Central Bank to be confirmed as manager of Sovereign Wealth Fund
Photos: Presidente Filipe Nyusi/Facebook
Speaking in Rwanda today (17-05), Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, acknowledged “positive progress” towards the resumption of the French multinational’s natural gas megaproject in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, but without committing to deadlines.
“We are working on it, and it is better to work gradually, like this,” Patrick Pouyanné told journalists in Kigali after a meeting with Mozambique’s President Nyusi, in which the security situation in Cabo Delgado and the status of the TotalEnergies project, worth around US$20 billion dollars (€18.6 billion), were discussed.
“We discussed the conditions for resuming the project in Cabo Delgado. I believe we have made positive progress with all contractors, and from that point of view we are ready to resume. We are also working with all funders to resume financing the project, and this is progressing well,” he added.
Pouyanné said that he discussed with Filipe Nyusi the “security situation” and “the progress that has been achieved, particularly in the north of Cabo Delgado”, stressing that the French oil company is “at work in Palma”, although without clarifying whether the definitive resumption of the project could happen this year.
“It shouldn’t be like this. It should be step by step and, when all things are put together, we will communicate [that],” he said.
TotalEnergies is currently developing the construction of a plant near Palma for the production and export of natural gas, a megaproject suspended since 2021 because of terrorist attacks.
“We think that the situation in the north of Cabo Delgado is well-controlled. Life in Palma has returned to normal. We are a little worried about what is happening in the south of Cabo Delgado – there were some incidents in Macomia recently. […] We are sharing information to put forward the best possible options,” Pouyanné concluded.
President Nyusi said in Maputo on May 2 that it was essential to resume natural gas megaprojects given the “promising stability” in Cabo Delgado, the scene of terrorist attacks, adding that financial decisions cannot be an argument at this stage.
“This is essential, because it cannot be a financial decision problem, now, associated with the terrorist situation. This project already existed, it is old. This means that there was clarity in its execution. It cannot run aground for this reason,” Filipe Nyusi said at the opening of the 10th edition of the Mozambique Mining and Energy Conference and Exhibition.
Specifically, Nyusi appealed to the Area 1 concessionaires, led by TotalEnergies, to “accelerate the development of the resumption of onshore projects”, given the “promising gradual stability” in the Afungi peninsula, Palma district.
In the same intervention, the head of state said that the “delay” in implementing these types of projects “causes problems”, because the “expectations of the countries are enormous” and “people keep thinking that part of their problem can be resolved.”
“Great efforts were made by Mozambique, by the Defence and Security Forces, by our friendly and brotherly countries to stabilise [Cabo Delgado], putting the country in a better or identical situation to other countries where [terrorist] conflicts occur. So, the stability argument often doesn’t work. And the delay alone causes some impatience,” Nyusi said.
Presenting the oil company’s results last February, Patrick Pouyanné said that he hoped to restart construction and natural gas exploration work on land by the end of the year, and pledging to constantly monitor the situation on the ground. “What I don’t want to happen is deciding to bring people back and then them having to leave again – that would be very complex,” he explained.
Mozambique has three development projects approved to explore natural gas reserves in the Rovuma basin off the coast of Cabo Delgado, ranked among some of the largest in the world.
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