The meetings between Total and the Mozambican authorities, have been made based on a scenario known to all: draw lessons from the closure of its LNG facilities after the attacks in Palma and, at the same time, take a firm position on the conditions of its return.
A Total delegation went to Maputo to meet with the Mozambican authorities last Friday. At that meeting, it was clear that exploration and production director Arnaud Breuillac and the Africa director of the same subsidiary, Nicolas Terraz, wanted to explain exactly how the French group’s decision to declare force majeure on April 26 would impact the development of Mozambican LNG in Cabo Delgado province.
They had the opportunity to meet with Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Max Tonela and Minister of Defense Jaime Neto.
Although it has canceled most of its subcontracts and sent all personnel home, Total is not giving up on Mozambique’s LNG.
Although it has canceled most of its subcontracts and sent all personnel home, Total is not giving up on Mozambique LNG. However, the French company wants to show the Mozambican government that the lack of strong action by security and intelligence forces in Cabo Delgado created the conditions for a potential disaster, and that it is now up to the government to make the necessary decisions if it wants the oil company to return to work as soon as possible.
The other reason for the Total executives’ trip was to lay the groundwork for the upcoming meeting between Nyusi and his CEO Patrick Pouyanné, scheduled for May 17 or 18 in Paris. As we revealed, French President Emmanuel Macron invited Nyusi to attend his summit on the financing of African economies on May 18, and also invited heads of state Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Alassane Ouattara (Ivory Coast), João Lourenço (Angola) and Muhammadu Buhari (Nigeria).
Macron and Nyusi are expected to take stock of the security situation on the morning of May 18.
Total does not yet know how long it will keep Mozambique LNG in ‘bath Maria’. The first phase of the project should be to sell 12.9 million tons by 2024. Nyusi’s visit to Paris may shed light on Mozambique’s intentions on its strategy to reconquer the area. It is clear, however, that the French multinational has no intention of easily abandoning Mozambique, given the colossal size of the reserves off Cabo Delgado, almost equivalent to those of Nigeria.
