Several gas projects have been launched in Mozambique. The most colossal, Mozambique LNG, is managed by Total, which has not given up despite criticism and obstacles. These projects also appeal to banks, which are called upon to invest via substantial loans.
An opportunity for major French banks
The Mozambique LNG gas project, managed by Total, represents an investment of $23 billion. It is the largest private financial investment ever made in Africa, in one of the world's poorest countries.
Of the $23 billion, $16 billion will be financed by bank loans. The four major French banks - BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole and Natixis - were not keen to miss out on the financial windfall that Mozambique's gas represents.
Société Générale, Total's financial advisor on the Mozambique LNG project, has been tasked with bringing together some twenty financiers, according to Bloomberg. However, the group has told Les Echos newspaper that it is not yet one of them.
According to the NGO Friends of the Earth, a human rights and environmental protection organization which is investigating these gas projects, Société Générale has also been mandated by the State of Mozambique to finance its shares in the project.
Crédit Agricole, on the other hand, is well down the list of financiers: the loan granted is said to be worth several hundred million dollars. Natixis and BNP Paribas did not take part in the Mozambique LNG project, but did finance Coral South FNLG, another gas project in Mozambique managed by the Italian oil group ENI. Société Générale and Crédit Agricole have also invested in this project.
Hotly contested gas projects
Many NGOs are opposed to these gas projects, primarily because of their environmental impact. According to Friends of the Earth, the three projects currently underway could emit the equivalent of 7 years' worth of French greenhouse gas emissions. These projects also present a risk to marine biodiversity due to the noise pollution caused by drilling.
The immediate human consequences are no less severe. 556 families have already been displaced from their villages and deprived of their livelihoods to make way for Total and ENI projects. Fishing families have been relocated far from the coast, and farming families have been allocated land more than 20 km from their homes. What's more, according to Cécile Marchand, campaigner for the NGO Friends of the Earth, "these population displacements exacerbate already existing ethnic and religious tensions".
In addition, the Mozambique LNG and Coral South FNLG gas projects are taking place in the Cabo Delgado region, where there is an Islamist insurgency led by jihadist groups. According to Friends of the Earth, these gas projects are fuelling tensions, notably through the militarization of the area and the deployment of private security companies. 8 workers from a construction company were killed in an attack at the end of June. According to Total, they were not working on the gas project, but Friends of the Earth claims they were employed by a Total subcontractor.
The Total site should be operational in 2024.