TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanné has expressed concern over the insurgent attack on Macomia town in Cabo Delgado province last Friday, following a meeting with President Filipe Nyusi this morning at a conference in Kigali.
Pouyanné told reporters that TotalEnergies was “a little concerned” about insurgent activity in the south of Cabo Delgado, and that he received a briefing from Nyusi about the attack in Macomia. TotalEnergies and the Mozambican government were sharing relevant information with each other, he added.
However, Pouyanné insisted that security in the north of Cabo Delgado province was “well under control” and that normal life had now returned to the town of Palma, which neighbours the $20bn-plus liquefied natural gas (LNG) project led by TotalEnergies on the Afungi peninsula.
Pouyanné also said that the restart of its project, known as Mozambique LNG, would be “gradual” and that some work had already resumed in Palma. TotalEnergies is ready to restart work with its contractors and negotiations with export credit agencies to resume financing the project are “progressing well,” according to Pouyanné, but he would not commit to a date for the project’s relaunch. Work was suspended in early 2021 after insurgents attacked Palma and killed some staff subcontracted to the project.
“We should go step by step… It’s better to work like that, so don’t expect a big bang,” Pouyanné said.
Banks and export credit agencies agreed back in 2021 to provide $14.9bn in debt, covering the majority of the project costs, but the financing was put on hold when the project was suspended, and they have not yet all agreed to re-release the funds, likely due to security concerns.
Satellite imagery shows major construction work has been underway at the Afungi project site since December 2023.
