Exxon has canceled a public appearance by several executives scheduled for today, at which they were supposed to reaffirm the company’s commitment to the Rovuma LNG project, currently frozen, in the company of Mozambique’s president, Daniel Chapo.
The $30-billion facility that will be the biggest LNG export hub in Africa once completed has yet to receive a final investment decision, mainly due to the unstable security situation in the Cabo Delgado region, where both Rovuma and TotalEnergies’ Mozambique LNG are located. Mozambique LNG was under force majeure until this month when the French supermajor lifted it.
However, the Financial Times suggested in a report today on Exxon’s cancellation of the joint Rovuma briefing that the security situation may well be the reason for that cancellation. The publication cited multiple calls for both LNG projects to be delayed because Islamist insurgents are active in the area.
“The security situation has got much worse,” the FT cited a senior adviser with Oxfam as saying. “People are talking about attacks happening on a nightly basis on highways around the [Rovuma] project. I just don’t understand how you can have a genuine conversation on whether or not this project moves forward in this context,” Andrew Bogrand said.
Islamist activity in Mozambique has plagued the country’s energy plans for years. Until relatively recently, the Rwandan army was working in tandem with forces from the Southern African Development Community to contain the insurgents, but these withdrew from the security mission in Mozambique after money for payments for the security services provided started running out.
According to one conflict monitoring organization and the UN Refugee Agency, extremist activity has intensified in northern Mozambique, with the organization, Acled, reporting 22 deaths in the week to October 26 and the UNRA reporting 100,000 people fled their homes because of the violence.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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