The logo of French oil and gas company TotalEnergies is pictured at a petrol station in Treillières, near Nantes, France, June 8, 2021. STEPHANE MAHE / REUTERS
Mozambique said on Wednesday, November 19, it will audit $4.5 billion in potential losses claimed by French oil giant TotalEnergies following a nearly five-year halt of its massive gas project in the southern African nation. The $20-billion liquefied natural gas project was paused in 2021 following a bloody jihadist attack that killed an estimated 800 people. TotalEnergies last month lifted the force majeure it had declared after the siege and sought $4.5 billion in cost overruns linked to the delay, to be covered by the Mozambique government.
The country’s ministers agreed to restart the project and will review costs from the force majeure period before approving the project’s updated development plan, the government said. The government will also ensure “monitoring of the project implementation across various cross-cutting matters,” it added.
TotalEnergies is also seeking a 10-year extension to its concession, more than double the length of the delay. It was not immediately clear if Mozambique would approve the extension. The company has said it hopes to resume production at the gas site in 2029, subject to government approval of its new budget plan. Mozambican and international NGOs last month accused TotalEnergies of holding Mozambique “hostage” by its demands. TotalEnergies owns a 26.5% stake in the project.
‘Complicity in war crimes’
Northern Mozambique has been battered by a bloody jihadist insurgency since late 2017. The group often referred to as Al-Shabaab by locals and authorities – despite no known link to the Somali jihadist group – seeks to impose Sharia law in Cabo Delgado, a neglected outpost that has become fertile ground for radical ideology.
In a major incident in March 2021, the insurgents attacked the port town of Palma, a few kilometers from the TotalEnergies site, sending thousands of people fleeing into the surrounding forest. Conflict tracker ACLED estimated more than 800 people were killed in the attack.
The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), a German NGO, on Tuesday said it had filed a legal complaint against TotalEnergies, accusing it of “complicity in war crimes” by local troops at the gas site. The case was filed with France’s national anti-terrorism prosecutor. It focuses on alleged abuses between July and September 2021 by soldiers belonging to a joint task force (JTF) deployed to protect TotalEnergies gas site.