Page 15 - AfrOil Week 16 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

Rubis attributed the gap in fuel supply to various The firm’s tabulation shows 86% of products
factors including a spike in local demand over were located to sales in Kenya in January 2022
the past three months. It showed that its local and 14 % to export sales. It allocated 87% to local
daily retail sales had grown by 6.9 % in February, sales in February, 81% in March, and 88% in
9.4% in March and 13.3 % in April from January April, it said.
2022. “Our efforts have gone a step further to
“Rubis Energy Kenya wishes to clarify that ensure our Nairobi Depot was open during the
we have an allocation of over 80% dedicated to weekend of April 2 to 3 to enable the delivery of
the local market; the balance to a maximum of fuel to service stations and shall open as neces-
20% is exported to our subsidiaries in Uganda, sary to continue facilitating loading and delivery
Rwanda and export customers,” the firm said. of fuel to stations,” said Rubis. ™

TotalEnergies moving to restart work

on Mozambique LNG, Cabo Ligado says

MOZAMBIQUE FRENCH energy giant TotalEnergies is report- 700,000 have been displaced, but some of are
edly quietly beginning to resume operations gradually returning as Mozambique’s army and
at its $20bn LNG project in northern Mozam- troops from Rwanda, South Africa, Zimbabwe
bique, a year after halting work due to an Isla- and other southern African countries regain
mist insurgency in the Cabo Delgado province. territory from the insurgents.
According to the March 2022 edition of Cabo TotalEnergies, Cabo Ligado reports, is fac-
Ligado, an observatory launched by two local ing an additional challenge related to resettling
media houses and the Armed Conflict Location communities affected by the project and others
& Event Data Project to monitor violence in that who settled themselves near the project site. The
country, South African contractors are back at company could eventually pay for the rehabili-
work while local employees who lost their jobs tation of one of the settlements where villagers
last year are being rehired. have sought shelter. The area is defended by
“[At] the main camp in Afungi, South Rwandan troops.
African contractors are now working on the Another challenge for the restart is the pre-
premises to meet new security requirements to vailing insecurity in adjacent districts that are
protect the LNG project workforce. Workers laid supposed to be defended by a regional force,
off last year, after the shutdown of the project, which reportedly lacks personnel and hardware.
are now being offered new contracts to return, A $2.4bn redevelopment plan created by the
mainly in social services and community-re- government and supported by donors among
lated activities,” Fernando Lima, a journalist and them the United Nations, World Bank, the
political commentator on Mozambique wrote in European Union and the African Development
Cabo Ligado. Bank is proving ineffective, said Cabo Ligado,
TotalEnergies is the operator in a consortium owing to disagreements among ministers about
that is investing to tap natural gas off Mozam- the origins and motivations of the insurgency.
bique’s coast to an onshore processing facil- The government says the rebellion was
ity. The $20bn project plans to produce 12mn caused by external forces, including separatist
tonnes per year 9tpy) of LNG, mainly for export groups linked to Islamic State (Daesh), while
to Europe and Asia. some observers blame social factors such as
The newsletter says Mozambique and poverty and ethnic differences. ™
TotalEnergies agree that market constraints
created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in Feb-
ruary are creating additional pressure for work
to resume.
Maxime Rabilloud, TotalEnergies’ country
manager in Mozambique, recently noted “sig-
nificant improvements in the security situation.”
But he also said conditions were still not good
enough for the project to resume. “We cannot
place the lives of our workers in danger,” Rabil-
loud was quoted as saying by Cabo Ligado.
The Islamist inusrgency that started in
October 2017 has resulted in the death of some
3,400 people, most of them civilians. More than Mozambique LNG construction site on Afungi Peninsula (Image: TotalEnergies)

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