Saipem has agreed to restart a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique for TotalEnergies in July, the Italian energy services group's chief executive said Tuesday.
The project, which would be the first development of an LNG plant in the African country, has been frozen in 2021 due to safety concerns. The contract is worth €3.5 billion ($3.72 billion) to the Italian group.
« Nous prévoyons de redémarrer progressivement le projet, selon les informations reçues par nos clients, à partir de juillet de cette année », a déclaré le PDG de Saipem, Alessandro Puliti, lors d’un appel sur les résultats du groupe pour 2022.
Puliti said that Saipem had no direct information on the human rights and security situation in the province of Cabo Delgato where the project will be located.
Earlier this month, TotalEnergies commissioned 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 restarting operations.
« Nous n’avons pas de visibilité directe sur le rapport sur les droits de l’homme, mais nous avons convenu avec Total de redémarrer en juillet (…) cela implique que notre client est confiant de résoudre les problèmes potentiels en suspens d’ici cette date », a déclaré Puliti.
On Tuesday, Total told Reuters it would wait for a human rights assessment commissioned by Rufin before announcing any restart of the project.
The French company added that it did not yet have a date for receiving the report, after an initial estimate at the end of February.
Lorette Philippot, an activist with Friends of the Earth France, said it was not possible for the negative consequences of the project for the climate and people to be resolved by the summer.
« La situation sur le terrain est critique : l’industrie du gaz a été au cœur du conflit brutal qui a créé 1 million de réfugiés internes », a déclaré Philippot.