As part of his visit to the Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique on February 3 to review the security and humanitarian situation, the CEO and president of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanne confident Jean-Christophe Rufinrecognized expert in humanitarian action and human rights, with an independent mission to assess the humanitarian situation in the province.
Pouyanné visited the industrial complex of Afungi, the resettlement village of Quitunda, the towns of Palma and Mocimboa da Praia and met with the president Fill in the brows to discuss the security and humanitarian situation in Cabo Delgado province, where Mozambique’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) project is located.
Rufin’s mission will also be to evaluate the actions taken by Mozambique LNG and propose any additional actions to be implemented, if necessary.
A report of this mission will be delivered at the end of February and its conclusions will be shared with all Mozambique LNG partners, who will decide if the conditions are met to resume project activities.
In view of the changing security situation in the north of Cabo Delgado province, in April 2021 Mozambique LNG decided to withdraw all project personnel from the Afungi site. This situation also made the partners of the Mozambique LNG project declare force majeure.
“Since 2021, the situation in the province of Cabo Delgado has improved significantly, thanks in particular to the support of African countries that pledged to restore peace and security,” said Pouyanné.
“The lifting of the force majeure and the resumption of activities at the Mozambique LNG project site require, in particular, the restoration of security in the region, the resumption of public services and the return to normal life of the population of the region.
“The mission entrusted to Jean-Christophe Rufin should allow the partners of Mozambique LNG to assess whether the current situation allows activities to resume while respecting human rights,” he added.
Mozambique LNG is the first land-based development of an LNG plant in the country. The project includes the development of the Golfinho and Atum fields located in offshore area 1 and the construction of two liquefaction trains with a total capacity of 13.1 million tons per year.
TotalEnergies EP Moçambic Area 1 Limitada, a wholly owned subsidiary of Total, has a 26.5% stake in Moçambic LNG.
Rufin, a doctor, has been involved in the humanitarian movement since 1977 and has carried out numerous field missions in Nicaragua, Eritrea, Sudan and the Philippines.
He was vice-president of Doctors Without Borders from 1991 to 1992 and president of Action against Hunger – ACF from 2003 to 2006.
He was advisor to the French Secretariat of State for Human Rights from 1986 to 1988, culture and cooperation attaché in Brazil from 1988 to 1989, advisor to the French Minister of Defense in charge of peacekeeping operations from 1993 to 1994 and French ambassador to Senegal and Gambia from 2007 to 2010.
Present in Mozambique since 1991, TotalEnergies operates in the exploration and production and marketing and services segments.
