AfrOil: TotalEnergies CEO qualifies statements on Mozambique LNG restart

Patrick Pouyanné, the CEO of TotalEnergies (France), has qualified his recent statements about the possibility that work on the Mozambique LNG project may resume before the end of this year.

Speaking with analysts during a quarterly earnings call on February 10, Pouyanné stressed that security conditions would determine when work on Mozambique LNG, which was suspended late last March, might resume. He acknowledged that Mozambique’s armed forces had made progress, with help from the troops deployed by Rwanda and member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). But he also pointed out that the coalition had not yet regained full control and said that his company was waiting for normal life to resume.

The French major wants to see the civilian population return to the area, he explained. “That will be the signal. We will not build a plant in a country where we’ll be surrounded by soldiers. It does not work like that,” he remarked.