Page 13 - DMEA Week 38 2022

DMEA REFINING & FUELS DMEA

Maputo does anticipate that TotalEnergies will assume” that the US super-major might take this
be ready to make a decision in favour of restart- step next year either.
ing the Mozambique LNG project by the end of Jos Evens, the chairman and general man-
March, he repeated. The scheme will then have ager of ExxonMobil Mozambique, said at the
been on hold for two years, as the French com- conference in Maputo earlier in September that
pany declared force majeure following a series the timing of his company’s FID would depend
of attacks by the Islamist separatist group Ahlu on security conditions in the region. Exxon-
Sunnah Wa-Jamo (ASWJ) in March 2021. Mobil is continuing to monitor the situation in
TotalEnergies representatives have made Cabo Delgado, he stated, without elaborating.
clear that the company will resume work on The Cabo Delgado province has been expe-
Mozambique LNG only if security conditions riencing attacks by ASWJ forces since 2017,
in the Cabo Delgado region have improved suf- and in early 2021 the group, which has ties to
ficiently, the finance minister said. The govern- Islamic State (Daesh), was targeting locations
ment believes it has now satisfied this condition near TotalEnergies’ onshore construction site
but is waiting for the French major to act, he on the Afungi Peninsula. Subsequently, Maputo
stated. began working with the Southern African
“What Total has required is a long-term secu- Development Community (SADC), a regional
rity assurance ... Of course, they have to analyse organisation, and the government of Rwanda to
and take a decision on their own,” Tonela added. counter the militants. They have racked up some
He did not say whether Mozambique’s gov- successes, but sporadic attacks have continued.
ernment had received any indications from TotalEnergies and its partners are aiming
TotalEnergies about its plans. to extract gas from Area 1, which lies offshore
Bloomberg noted, though, that Stephane Le Mozambique within the Rovuma basin. They
Galles, the French giant’s director for the LNG will process the gas at an LNG plant and onshore
project, had said at a conference in Maputo ear- complex on the Afungi Peninsula. This facility
lier in September that “the direction is good” will eventually have two production trains, each
with respect to the restoration of government with a capacity of 6.44mn tonnes per year (tpy).
control over, and public services in, Cabo The French major serves as operator of the
Delgado. Mozambique LNG consortium through its sub-
sidiary Total E&P Mozambique Area 1, which
No FID on Rovuma LNG yet holds a 26.5% stake. The remaining equity in the
The news agency also quoted the finance min- consortium is split between two Japanese com-
ister as saying that he was less certain about the panies, Mitsui and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals
potential for forward movement on Rovuma National Corp. (JOGMEC), which have a com-
LNG, another large-scale gas and LNG project bined stake of 20%; Mozambique’s national oil
targeting reserves in an offshore section of the company (NOC) ENH, with 15%; BPCL, with
Rovuma basin. When asked whether ExxonMo- 10%; ONGC Videsh (India), with 10%; Beas
bil, the leader of the Rovuma LNG consortium, Rovuma Energy Mozambique (a 60:40 joint
might take a final investment decision (FID) in venture between ONGC Videsh and Oil India
the short term, Tonela said that he was “not so Ltd, or OIL), with 10%; and PTTEP (Thailand),
optimistic” and added that it was “not so easy to with 8.5%. ™

Work on the Afungi Pennsula facility has been on hold since March 2021 (Image: Mozambique LNG)

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