Page 12 - AfrOil Week 33 2022

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

“The move also comes as the West seeks to coun- also sent its own troops.
ter Russian and Chinese influence in the south- The intervention has contained the militants
ern African nation, three years after Russian but “the situation remains very volatile and
private military firm Wagner withdrew most of smaller-scale violent attacks have continued
its forces following a string of defeats by Islamist in various districts,” the EU document, dated
militants,” Reuters said. August 10, said.
Reports say about 4,000 people, mostly civil- TotalEnergies halted work at its site in March
ians, have died in the fighting, and up to 800,000 2021 after a rebel attack nearby, but according to
displaced in a country with 180 trillion cubic Reuters, the firm is determined to begin produc-
feet of recoverable gas off the coast of its inse- tion in 2024. Eni, meanwhile, expects to start
cure north. The SADC force was deployed in exporting LNG from the Coral South project to
July 2021, around the same time when Rwanda Europe this year. ™

IOCs have discovered about 5.1 trillion cubic metres of gas in the Rovuma basin (Image: Anadarko)

Nyusi announces plan to create

gas-based sovereign wealth fund

MOZAMBIQUE MOZAMBIQUE plans to set up a sover- (France) discovered about 180 trillion cubic feet
eign wealth fund to manage revenue from the (5.1 trillion cubic metres) of recoverable gas in
exploitation of natural gas, which is abundant deepwater fields off the coast of Cabo Delgado.
in the country’s offshore north, President Filipe Mozambique could become one of the world’s
Nyusi has said. 10 biggest exporters. Eni’s $4.6bn, 3.4mn tonne
Nyusi spoke of the fund along with a series of per year (tpy) Coral South LNG project, the
measures that the southern African country will most advanced of the three, is due to export its
implement to revive an economy battered by the first cargo of LNG soon.
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, recurrent However, the insurgency poses a threat to
floods and an Islamist insurgency in its north- the projects. In early 2021, TotalEnergies evac-
ernmost province of Cabo Delgado, where some uated workers from the site where it is building
oil majors are planning to or developing gas an gas processing and export terminal for its
fields, AFP reports. Mozambique LNG project after rebels attacked
Speaking in the capital Maputo on August a nearby town. About 4,000 people have died in
9, Nyusi said the sovereign wealth fund would the conflict while more than 700,000 have been
guarantee transparent management of revenues displaced since October 2017.
and help the development of Mozambique, one Nyusi said the wealth fund should become
of the world’s poorest countries. operational “before the start of the greatest flow”
“We want to create and implement the sov- of gas from the area, hinting that might not hap-
ereign wealth fund of Mozambique, which will pen until after 2024, and warning the country
have a robust regulatory framework to ensure had an “expectation management problem.”
hydrocarbon revenues are used in a transparent He also promised to reduced taxes on profits
way,” he said, as quoted by AFP. “We want a sov- from 32% to 10% and value-added tax (VAT)
ereign fund to develop the country and ensure from 17% to 16%, expressing the hope that the
its future, especially in times of adversity.” incentives would increase investment in agricul-
International oil companies (IOCs) such as ture, aquaculture and urban transport among
ExxonMobil (US), Eni (Italy) and TotalEnergies other economic sectors. ™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 33 18•August•2022