Militants Attack Town Near Key African LNG Hub

Militants attacked on Monday a town in African country Mozambique close to large liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects under development, local police said, as quoted by Bloomberg.

Early on Monday, unidentified militants occupied by the city of Mocimboa da Praia, which is located 38 miles, or 60 kilometers, south of LNG projects being developed by major oil and gas companies including ExxonMobil and Total, Orlando Mudumane said  on state television, Bloomberg reports.

This is not the first time that gunmen have attacked areas close to LNG development projects in the African country. Last year in February, for example, militants attacked Anadarko’s LNG project, in what was the first such attack on the local oil and gas industry.  

Later in the year, Total bought Anadarko’s 26.5 percent operated interest in the Mozambique LNG project for US$3.9 billion,  after it reached a binding agreement with Occidental to buy Anadarko’s assets in Africa, following Occidental’s acquisition of Anadarko.

In November last year, Total was looking to develop additional trains to develop the gas resources in the area.

Exxon, for its part, is jointly developing the Rovuma LNG project in Mozambique with Italy’s Eni.   ExxonMobil will lead the construction and operation of all future natural gas liquefaction and related facilities, while Eni will continue to lead the Coral floating LNG project and all upstream operations, Exxon says on its website.

While a militant attack at a town close to LNG developments in Mozambique may hamper some of the local operations, LNG developers and sellers face an uncertain future these days as an oversupplied market and slowing demand in the coronavirus pandemic may delay final investment decisions for new projects.   

There were 10 liquefied natural gas projects in the United States slated for approval last year but due to an already sizable glut and the U.S.-China trade war, many final investment decisions were pushed into 2020. Some of these projects might even be canceled if the situation doesn’t improve soon.  

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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