Total declares force majeure on $20bn LNG project in Mozambique

Total declares force majeure on $20bn LNG project in Mozambique

Total has declared force majeure on its multibillion dollar LNG development in Mozambique after an escalation in attacks by Islamist insurgents forced the mothballing of Africa's biggest private investment.

The French energy major said on Monday it had activated the contractual get-out "considering the evolution of the security situation“ in Mozambique's northernmost Cabo Delgado region, where insurgents last month laid waste to a town adjacent to the $20bn project.

The attack on Palma killed dozens of people, including foreign workers, and made thousands more homeless, prompting Total to withdraw all staff from the nearby project on the Afungi peninsula.

Discoveries of vast offshore gas reserves over the past decade promised to transform the economy of one of the world's poorest nations.

But the LNG development has been overshadowed by the rise of the insurgent threat since 2017, especially attacks in the past year that have left President Filipe Nyusi's security forces on the back foot.

Total's declaration of force majeure will increase the pressure on the Nyusi government to turn the war round.

"Force majeure has been declared because Total is unable to perform its obligations as a result of the severe deterioration of the security situation in Cabo Delgado, a matter which is entirely out