Four years after suspending operations at a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique’s Afungi Peninsula following insurgent attacks in the nearby village of Palma, French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies and its partners have decided to lift their force majeure, local media reported.
The company communicated the decision to the Mozambican government on Oct. 24. It also requested some amendments to the project plan, including a 10-year extension on its production license.
TotalEnergies’ resumption of work on the LNG plant still awaits government approval of its proposed timeline and budget. Still, activity around the planned LNG site has been ramping up over the past year, said Daniel Ribeiro of the Mozambican environmental organization Justiça Ambiental, in a phone interview with Mongabay. He estimated that around 1,000 people — including subcontractors, private firms and TotalEnergies staff — are already working in the area.
Observers and civil society organizations say the security situation remains precarious at the site. They also warn that major issues persist, including environmental impacts, unresolved land compensation for resettled communities, and the exposure of nearby villages to heightened security risks.
“Total has gone to a closed enclave setup where they want to increase the security of their project area, the Afungi site, in which they have a lot of security. But that model will expose the communities to the insurgents more,” Ribeiro said. He added that TotalEnergies receives security support from the Mozambican army as well as forces from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Rwanda.
Ribeiro further warned that the resumption of activities could reduce the urgency to address unresolved issues of environmental risks in the ecologically sensitive area and community resettlement.
The construction of the LNG plant and related facilities led to the resettlement of several small fishing villages along the Mozambican coast to an area about 10 kilometers (6 miles) inland — far from traditional fishing grounds. NGOs and affected communities have voiced grievances, saying that access to the coastal areas was vital for their livelihoods and that mitigation measures have been insufficient.
According to the Mozambique Conflict Monitor, the security situation had deteriorated as of Oct. 29, with insurgent activity spreading into the northern part of Cabo Delgado province, where the Afungi project is located.
“The focus [of insurgents] on the north is potentially linked to the increasing importance of Palma ahead of the restart of the LNG project, although a small group is unlikely to be able to threaten the site,” the monitor noted in its Oct. 29 update.
Neither TotalEnergies nor the Mozambican government responded to Mongabay’s requests for comment as of the time this story was published.
The decision to lift the force majeure follows months of negotiations between TotalEnergies and the Mozambican government, mainly over how to balance the project’s financial losses during the pause, estimated at $4.5 billion.
Banner image: Construction site of the TotalEnergies-operated Afungi LNG plant. Image courtesy of Justiça Ambiental.
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