Britain and the Netherlands withdraw from TotalEnergies' gas project in Mozambique due to security risks.

Arab Sea Newspaper - Special

TotalEnergies' natural gas liquefaction project in Mozambique has suffered a major blow after the United Kingdom and the Netherlands announced their withdrawal from funding the project, citing increasing security risks and terrorist threats in the implementation area. The British government officially announced the cancellation of $1.15 billion (about one billion euros) in funding that had been allocated through the UK Export Finance agency to support the project. The Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Peter Kyle, said that the decision was based on "the risks associated with the project, which have escalated since 2020," adding that the investment no longer served "the interests of British taxpayers or the interests of the United Kingdom." A bloody attack and "force majeure" The project was originally suspended in April 2021, when TotalEnergies halted construction work following a deadly attack by the extremist Al-Shabaab militia loyal to ISIS on the city of Palma in the Cabo Delgado province of northern Mozambique. The attack resulted in the death and disappearance of more than 1,400 people, including Britons, prompting the company to declare "force majeure" and halt the project. Simultaneous Dutch withdrawal In a similar move, the Dutch government informed Parliament of its withdrawal from funding the project, even though TotalEnergies had recently expressed its willingness to resume construction, after assurances from the Mozambican authorities about the improvement of the security situation. This simultaneous withdrawal by two of the most prominent government supporters is a severe blow to the project, which is one of the largest foreign investments in the African continent, with a total value estimated at about $20 billion. Observers believe that the continued security threats and investor concerns may delay the resumption of work on the project indefinitely, at a time when Mozambique is seeking to strengthen its position as a major global source of natural gas.