French energy giant TotalEnergies has restarted construction of a $20 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique after being forced to pause operations indefinitely due to escalating violence in the region, according to Al Jazeera.
The project was relaunched during a ceremony near the construction site in Afungi, located in the gas-rich Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique’s northeast, attended by the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Pouyanne, and Mozambique’s President, Daniel Chapo.
This project, considered one of the largest LNG developments on the African continent, was suspended in 2021 as Mozambique, supported by regional forces, battled to contain ISIL-linked fighting that has claimed more than 6,400 lives in the past eight years, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).
It is expected to produce more than 13 million tonnes of LNG annually and is anticipated to commence operations in 2029, potentially generating as much as $35 billion for government coffers over its lifetime from taxes, oil profits, and other contributions, according to President Chapo, as cited by Reuters.
Pouyanne stated that the project would bring “significant economic benefits” to the country, including the creation of up to 7,000 direct jobs for Mozambicans during construction, with contracts awarded to local companies expected to exceed $4 billion.
Security is reported to have improved in Cabo Delgado, particularly with the deployment of Rwandan soldiers around the Afungi construction site.
However, the delays have incurred significant costs, prompting the project’s stakeholders to renegotiate terms.
Environmental and human rights groups have condemned the development, arguing it will provide little benefit to Mozambicans, over 80 percent of whom lived below the poverty line of $3 per day in 2022, according to World Bank data.
The campaign group Friends of the Earth has described the project as “a carbon time bomb with huge climate impacts,” alleging that it has also become a focal point for human rights abuses, including “killings, beheadings, and entire communities fleeing the Cabo Delgado region.”
TotalEnergies is facing two legal proceedings in France, including a manslaughter investigation, after survivors and relatives of victims of the 2021 attack accused the company of failing to protect its subcontractors.
The company is also subject to a complaint for “complicity in war crimes, torture, and enforced disappearance,” filed by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), a German NGO, with France’s national “anti-terrorism” prosecutor.
“The oil and gas major is accused of having directly financed and materially supported the Joint Task Force, composed of Mozambican armed forces, which between July and September 2021, allegedly detained, tortured, and killed dozens of civilians on TotalEnergies’ gas site,” stated ECCHR last month.
TotalEnergies has rejected all accusations.
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