TotalEnergies is suspending all its subcontracts with companies based in the Afungi peninsula, in Cabo Delgado province. The companies have already been instructed to cease their activities and terminate contracts with thousands of workers.
CCS Joint Venture (Chiyoda, McDermott, and Saipem), for instance, has already received instructions from the French multinational to proceed with the measure. Everything is suspended until further notice.
Other subcontractors that continued operating in Afungi even after the suspension of TotalEnergies’ project included the Portuguese Gabriel Couto, the South African WBHO, the Italian Renco, and the Mauritanian International Facility Services (IFS), according to a text published by AI (Amnesty International).
This information has caught Mozambican authorities by surprise, as in a recent interview on February 5, TotalEnergies’ CEO, Patrick Pouyanné, expressed optimism about the resumption of the project.
The CEO had previously shown satisfaction with the current security conditions in the Afungi area, thanks to the presence of Rwandan forces.
It is worth recalling that in April 2021, TotalEnergies invoked Force Majeure for the project after a terrorist attack on its facilities. For months, the company’s official stance was that the project’s resumption was contingent on security improvements.
However, another challenge emerged, as some investors withdrew their funding due to environmental concerns. As a result, TotalEnergies currently lacks the necessary budget to initiate the liquefied natural gas (LNG) exploration.
Pouyanné remains hopeful that the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Exim Bank) will approve financial guarantees for the project in the near future. However, it seems that the lack of a clear timeline for these approvals has now led to the suspension of subcontractor operations.
