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Mozambique says COVID-19 outbreak

under control at Total work camp

MOZAMBIQUE MOZAMBICAN authorities have given Total a for the recommended interval. The single Total
green light to resume the construction of a gas employee who remains in isolation has been
Mozambican authorities liquefaction plant in Cabo Delgado Province. tested for COVID-19 infection and will be dis-
have given Total a green The French company halted most of its charged if the results are negative, he stated.
light to resume the onshore operations in April, after a number of He went on to say that the work camp had
construction of a gas workers at the camp contracted the coronavi- introduced certain restrictions in order to guard
liquefaction plant in rus (COVID-19) infection. The outbreak swept against a second wave of infections. “Since it’s a
Cabo Delgado Province. through the work camp, which is sited on the closed area, the concern now is not to import
Afungi Peninsula, and eventually became the cases,” he told reporters. “We are witnessing an
worst cluster of illness in the country. acceleration of COVID-19 cases outside the
Eduardo Samo Gudo, the deputy general camp, but inside the camp it’s controlled.”
director of Mozambique’s National Health Insti- Total is building the gas liquefaction plant
tute (known locally as INS), told reporters on on the Afungi Peninsula within the framework
June 7 that the threat to public health had been of the Mozambique LNG project. The onshore
contained. Since the outbreak at the work camp facility will process natural gas from Area 1, an
has been brought under control, he said, “this offshore block in the Rovuma Basin. It will even-
means that activities in Afungi can go back to tually have two production trains, each with a
normal.” capacity of 6.44mn tonnes per year (tpy).
Samo Gudo declined to answer a question Equity in the Mozambique LNG consortium
about when work might resume, noting that the is split between Total E&P Mozambique Area
matter was not in the hands of the INS. “This is a 1, with 26.5%; Mitsui (Japan), with 20%; Bharat
decision that depends on the owner of the camp Petroleum (India), with 15%; Beas Rovuma
[Total],” he said. “What we are saying is that from Energy Mozambique, a 60:40 joint venture
an epidemiological point of view, the outbreak between ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) and Oil India
has been controlled.” Ltd (OIL), with 10%; Mozambique’s national oil
In the meantime, he said, all but one of the company (NOC) ENH, with 10%; and PTTEP
residents of the work camp have been released (Thailand), with 8.5%. The Total subsidiary is
from quarantine after remaining in isolation serving as the operator of the project. ™

Week 23 11•June•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13