Saipem has consented to resume a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique for TotalEnergies in July, the chief executive of the Italian energy services company said on Tuesday.
The project, which would have been Africa’s first onshore LNG plant, was halted in 2021 owing to security concerns. The contract is worth 3.5 billion euros ($3.72 billion) to the Italian group.
“We expect to gradually restart the Mozambique project, according to the information received from our clients, starting from July this year,” Saipem CEO Alessandro Puliti said during a call on the group’s results for 2022.
Puliti said that Saipem did not have direct information about the human rights and security situation in Cabo Delgato Province, where the project will be located.
Earlier this month, TotalEnergies mandated Jean-Christophe Rufin, an expert in humanitarian action and human rights, to carry out an independent mission to assess the humanitarian situation in the province before taking a decision on a restart of operations.
“We do not have direct visibility on the report on human rights, but we agreed with Total about restarting in July, which implies that our client is confident about solving potential pending issues by that date,” Puliti said.
Total told Reuters on Tuesday that it would wait for a human rights assessment commissioned by Rufin before announcing a restart of the project.
After an initial estimate of the end of February, the French company added that it did not yet have a date for when it would receive the report.
The harmful effects of the project on the climate and people could not possibly be resolved by the summer, according to Lorette Philippot, a campaigner with Friends of the Earth France.
The gas business has played a crucial role in the violent conflict that has resulted in one million internal refugees, Philippot added. “The situation on the ground is grave.”
