Construction works at the liquefied natural gas plant Total SA in June.
Total SE has asked employees to give up its $ 20 billion liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique, while Islamist militants are organizing attacks closer and closer to the site.
Islamic State fighters stormed a city less than 5 kilometers from the construction camp this week, making it the largest private investment in Africa, causing risks to the planned LNG export terminal on Mozambique’s north coast. . While the heavily guarded site has not yet been attacked, militants have threatened to do so.
Total “temporarily reduced its on-site workforce in response to the prevailing environment,” the company said in an email response to questions Friday. The situation is constantly being reviewed, he said.
Read more: Mozambican insurgents organize the closest attack to the Total LNG site so far
The South African nation has so far struggled to contain an insurgency in Cabo Delgado province that began in October 2017 and killed about 2,500 people, causing 570,000 to flee their homes.
Mozambique hopes that LNG projects, such as Total, will transform one of the world’s poorest countries and catapult it into a major global fuel exporter.
The coronavirus pandemic continued to influence the decision to reduce staff, Total said.
The Mozambique LNG project, which will start production in 2024, was the site of the first coronavirus cases in the country in April, which led to the suspension of work until June. A new outbreak of the project was detected last month, the news site based on Maputo @Verdade reported.
Total has a 26.5% stake in the project, which it bought for $ 3.9 billion in September 2019.
– With the assistance of Borges Nhamire