In Cabo Delgado, at least two companies subcontracted by Total for its liquefied natural gas project have begun dismantling and removing infrastructure in PalmaThis is bad news for analysts, because Mozambique is seen as an insecure country for investment.

The international press reports that the French firm TechniPFMC commissioned the South African company, Bridge Maritime, to dismantle and remove the equipment to the Mayotte Islands in the Indian Ocean.

The president of the Mozambican Association of Economists, Pedro Cossa, says this is a "complicated sign for Mozambicans, because the attack on Palma undermines the business environment in Cabo Delgado."

In addition to TechnipFMC, Saipem, another Total subcontractor, will also be moving its equipment off the Afungi peninsula.

Insecurity

Analyst João Feijó says that faced with the gravity of the threat, the companies had no other options, adding that "they are now starting to equate the maintenance costs they have, and that then affects the whole project, the loans, the disbursements, and the revenues."

He stressed that the companies are also considering that "it probably won't be a short-term solution, especially since the situation is still insecure around Palma, because since the March 24 attack, the situation has not stabilized and remains insecure.

For his part, José Manteigas says he is concerned about what he considers the government's silence regarding the conflict in Cabo Delgado.

"The country is at war," said that senior Renamo cadre, for whom "the President of the Republic should trigger the mechanisms to decree this war."

A war that, according to journalist Fernando Lima, the Mozambican state is having a hard time facing, "which may dash the expectations of an entire people around the natural gas exploration project in Afungi.

Political will

Lima reiterated that "the state is unable to defend this $23 billion project so that the country can have access to all the benefits of this project, and this shows that there are, in fact, serious limitations in Mozambique's defense and security forces."

"There must be political will to overcome the situation in Cabo Delgado, so that the companies resume their activities in Palma, because, otherwise, people will be very frustrated," said analyst Inocência Mapisse.

Meanwhile, João Feijó says that the dismantling of the infrastructure may not necessarily mean the abandonment of the project, "but postponing the investment to a time when there is greater security and when the market is more interesting, because right now, gas prices are low.

The same opinion is shared by analyst Tomás Rondinho, who says that the companies are removing their equipment "as a precautionary measure, because I don't believe that they are, in fact, abandoning the project.

Total has suspended its activities in Afungi following the March 24 jihadist attack, and it is not yet known when they might resume.