The Mozambican government said Wednesday that TotalEnergies will “assume its responsibilities” towards the companies contracted for the gas project in the Rovuma basin, admitting that it is “a process that will take some time.
“Total’s commitment will be to assume its responsibilities,” the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Max Tonela, told the Lusa Agency.
The minister explained that the French oil company assured the Mozambican government that it has several teams working to assess the contractual nature of each company that was involved in the construction of the natural gas project in the Afungi peninsula, north of the country, until the project was suspended on March 24, following armed attacks on the Palma district.
“Considering that there are hundreds of contracts, between large and small, it is a process that will take some time to determine,” he said.
Max Tonela noted that there are companies involved in the Afungi project whose situation will be easier to evaluate, in terms of rights, because they had not yet begun activity, but there are others in a more complex situation, because they were involved in civil construction, production and supply of goods and equipment.
“I want to believe that part of the complaints [from Mozambican companies] come from contracts signed not directly with Total, but with various subcontractors,” he emphasized.
Max Tonela admitted that the assumption of charges by Total in relation to companies directly involved in the natural gas production project will have a “cascading effect”, resulting in the payment of commitments made with subcontracted companies.
On the 16th, the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), the country’s main employer congregation, advocated that problems between oil company TotalEnergies and Mozambican companies be resolved in local arbitration to avoid a “legal war.”
At issue is the suspension of the Cabo Delgado gas project, which was the largest private investment underway in Africa, and the resulting losses for local companies supplying goods and services, with investments made, goods bought and loans taken out with banks.
Of a total of 45 Mozambican companies affected, 28 responded to a CTA survey, and among these alone, 18 million dollars in debts and 43.6 million dollars of “imported or purchased goods, which are in storage and others that were ordered, produced” on which TotalEnergies has not yet made a statement, according to the employers’ confederation.
