Total reduces workforce in Mozambique

MAPUTO, Mozambique 

French oil company Total told reporters on Friday (June 11) that it had reduced its workforce in Mozambique following the armed attack by rebels on Palma, capital of the Cabo Delgado district hosting the suspended gas project.

"Following the ‘force majeure’ decision due to the security situation in northern Cabo Delgado, Total E&P Mozambique Area 1 [the operator of the Mozambique liquefied natural gas project] confirms that it has reduced its workforce,” a source at Total said.

The same source said that the reduction was made “as discussed with the authorities and in accordance with Mozambican legislation”, but without specifying the number of jobs in question and how they had been reduced.

The company was reacting to testimonies recorded by our reporter from workers hired directly by Total, according to which June “is the last month for which the company is paying salaries”.

The reduction comes after the company and the subcontractors pulled all staff from the project site on the Afungi peninsula during the week following the March 24 attack on the town of Palma, about 10 kilometres away.

The project consortium expected to have around 6,000 workers at the project’s implementation site at this point in time, including both direct employees and subcontractors, the vast majority of them Mozambicans.

In addition, of the US$20 billion (€16.5 billion) investment – the largest private investment in Africa – 12.5% was expected, during construction, to be channelled to local companies.

Mozambique’s Confederation of Economic Associations estimates that losses to the Mozambique business sector resulting from the suspension amount to US$148 million (€122 million).

On April 26, Total declared `force majeure`, meaning that it was “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 of Total’s control”.

Jean-Pierre Sbraire, the project’s financial director, has said that the project will be delayed “at least a year”, implying that the start of exploitation and export of natural gas will not take place before 2025.

Armed groups have terrorised Cabo Delagdo province since 2017, with some attacks being claimed by the `jihadist` group Islamic State. There are more than 2,800 deaths according to the ACLED conflict registration project and 714,000 internally displaced persons, according to the Mozambican government.