TotalEnergies is suspending all its subcontracts with companies based on the Afungi peninsula in Cabo Delgado province. The companies have already been instructed to cease activities and contracts with thousands of workers.

A CCS Joint Venture (Chiyoda, McDermont and Saipem), for example, has already received the order from the French multinational to go ahead with the measure. Everything is on hold until further notice.

Other subcontractors that continued to operate in Afungi, even after the suspension of the TotalEnergies project, included Portugal's Gabril Couto, South Africa's WBHO, Italy's Renco and Mauritania's International Facility Services (IFS), according to a text published by AI.

The information comes as a surprise to the Mozambican authorities, given that in a recent interview on February 5, TotalEnergies' CEO, Patrick Pouyanné, showed optimism for the project's resumption.

The CEO had shown satisfaction with the current security issues in the Afungi area, thanks to the presence of Rwandan forces.

It should be remembered that in April 2021, TotalEnergies called Force Majeure on the project after a terrorist attack on its facilities. A few months ago, it was said that the resumption of the project was conditional

às security issues. However, another constraint has to do with the fact that some investors have pulled back their investments because of environmental issues. Until then, TotalEnergies has not budget necessary to at least start exploiting liquefied natural gas.

Pouyanné is hoping that the US Exim Bank will approve financial guarantees for the project in the short term. But it seems that the lack of a more precise timeframe is what has now precipitated the suspension with the subcontractors.