Page 7 - GLNG Week 45 2021
P. 7
GLNG AFRICA GLNG
Friends of the Earth takes UKEF to
court over Mozambique LNG loan
INVESTMENT FRIENDS of the Earth, an international envi- Mozambique from developing its own natural
ronmental advocacy group, has taken legal resources. “It’s the responsibility of the devel-
action in the British court system in a bid to oped countries – the richer countries and the
prevent the UK Export Finance (UKEF) agency advanced economies – to do the maximum”
from providing financial support to the Mozam- with respect to GHG emissions cuts, he told
bique LNG project. Lusa. “And I think it’s very, very difficult to tell
The British government had said last year that a really poor country that it simply shouldn’t use
it was ready to lend up to GBP1.15bn ($1.55bn) the resources it has.”
to the Mozambique LNG consortium, which is The Mozambique LNG consortium is led by
led by France’s TotalEnergies, via UKEF. How- Total E&P Mozambique Area 1, a TotalEnergies
ever, Friends of the Earth has argued that this subsidiary that holds a 26.5% stake. The remain-
pledge should be illegal, in light of the UK’s par- ing equity in the project is split between two Jap-
ticipation in the Paris Agreement, which man- anese companies, Mitsui and Japan Oil, Gas and
dates cuts in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Metals National Corp. (JOGMEC), which have a The French major
To this end, the non-government organisa- combined stake of 20%; Mozambique’s national
tion (NGO) has initiated a judicial review of the oil company (NOC) ENH, with 15%; Bharat has said it will
plan to make credits available to Mozambique Petroleum (India), with 10%; ONGC Videsh Ltd
LNG through UKEF. The British court system (OVL, India), with 10%; Beas Rovuma Energy not resume
has taken up the review, and the High Court in Mozambique (a 60:40 joint venture between
London is now scheduled to hold hearings on ONGC Videsh and Oil India Ltd, or OIL), with construction
the matter on December 7-9. 10%; and PTTEP (Thailand), with 8.5%. until it has more
Tony Bosworth, a climate and energy cam- The partners intend to extract gas from Area
paigner for Friends of the Earth, told the Lusa 1, which lies offshore Mozambique within the confidence in the
news agency last week that UKEF ought to focus Rovuma basin. It will use the gas as feedstock
on renewable energy rather than fossil fuel- for an LNG plant that TotalEnergies has started security situation.
based projects such as Mozambique LNG. “We building on the Afungi Peninsula. This facility
believe that the transition should be to renewa- will eventually have two production trains, each
bles,” he asserted. “That is where the UK should with a capacity of 6.44mn tpy.
put its support and money, ensuring that coun- Work on the $20bn project has been sus-
tries like Mozambique make the leap over gas pended since late March, when TotalEnergies
and go straight to renewables to meet environ- declared force majeure in response to deteriorat-
mental targets.” ing security conditions in Mozambique’s Cabo
Michael Jacobs, an economist who formerly Delgado Province. The French major has said it
served as special advisor to former British Prime will not resume construction until it has more
Minister Gordon Brown, disagreed, expressing confidence in the security situation, and this is
concern about the fairness of trying to prevent not expected to happen before next year.
Week 45 12•November•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P7
