Page 4 - GLNG Week 13 2021

GLNG COMMENTARY GLNG

More problems for

Mozambique LNG

The latest ASWJ campaign in Cabo Delgado

appears to be directed at Total’s $20bn

mega-project

PROJECTS & CABO Delgado, the northernmost province Rovuma LNG, led by ExxonMobil (US) – join
COMPANIES in Mozambique, is under siege once again. On Mozambique LNG in developing the country’s
March 24, Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jamo (ASWJ), the offshore fields and turning the country into an
WHAT: Islamist group that has been attempting to seize exporter of gas. Together, these three projects
ASWJ has attacked control of the province, launched an attack on will require investments of $50bn or more. They
a village just a few the village of Palma on the Afungi Peninsula. will generate billions of dollars in revenue for the
kilometres away from the Mozambique’s armed forces, known as Forças government, and they are likely to create thou-
site of Mozambique LNG’s Armadas de Defesa de Moçambique (FADM), sands of jobs. (Some of these jobs will emerge
onshore complex. have retaliated, but the outcome of the battle has directly, through the hiring of local workers and
not yet been decided. the contracting of local service firms, and some
WHY: The human cost of ASWJ’s latest campaign is will emerge indirectly, through the local busi-
The Islamist group is now sure to be steep. According to press reports, doz- nesses that are likely to spring up to serve those
openly targeting the gas ens of people have been killed, and thousands involved in gas production, transportation and
project, according to a have fled the area. processing.)
Mozambican Defence Unfortunately, the violence is not likely to
Ministry spokesman. end any time soon. Even if FADM manages to Human and political costs
retake the town relatively quickly – and its abil- As such, the stakes are high – and they have been
WHAT NEXT: ity to accomplish this is not assured – ASWJ for some time, even if one ignores the vast sums
Since attacks on gas has already achieved one of its goals. That is, it of money involved in the gas projects.
facilities attract attention, has succeeded in causing further problems for For one thing, the conflict has been grinding
ASWJ is likely to step up Mozambique LNG, the consortium led by Total on for more than three years. Mozambique’s
its campaign in the near (France) that is trying to build a natural gas liq- government and FADM have been fighting
future. uefaction plant just a few kilometres outside ASWJ since October 2017, and the conflict has
Palma within the framework of a wider invest- already led more than 700,000 people to flee
ment project worth $20bn. their homes. According to UNHCR, the refu-
In turn, Total’s problems are a major source gee agency of the United Nations, the number
of concern for the Mozambican government. of displaced people could climb to 1mn by mid-
Officials in Maputo hope to see two more con- year if the crisis does not abate.
sortia – Coral South LNG, led by Eni (Italy), and For another, the conflict has the potential to

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 13 01•April•2021