Governments are reviewing support for $20 billion gas project after SourceMaterial revealed abuse allegations against troops defending Mozambique site

TotalEnergies’ $20 billion Mozambique gas project is hanging in the balance as international backers study allegations that the French group knew government troops it funded carried out killings and rapes. 

This week SourceMaterial and Le Monde published video testimony from victims of abuses apparently committed by Mozambican troops that Total supported to defend installations it evacuated in 2021 amid a bloody Islamist insurgency.

Total’s liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique is said to be Africa’s largest ever private investment and has been backed by a host of European and US export credit agencies and development banks. 

Last November, SourceMaterial published extracts from Total documents showing that the company knew about alleged abuses by soldiers belonging to a joint task force funded by Total. Now governments that have backed the mega-project are wavering. 

British and Dutch state export credit agencies both told SourceMaterial that they are reviewing their support, and Total’s biggest backer, the US, may also pull out, leaving the project at a “critical milestone”, according to Patrick Pouyanné, Total’s chief executive. 

In response to questions from SourceMaterial, Total said that it did not pay bonuses to soldiers it knew had been accused of abuses and that its grievance mechanism worked. 

“It is wrong to think that Mozambique LNG would have had the means to punish members of the Mozambican security forces, who are regular soldiers,” a company spokesman said. Task force soldiers are “under the sole responsibility of the State of Mozambique” and have not received salaries or orders from Total, he said.

He added that other Mozambican forces outside the joint task force were present in the area during the period when the abuses took place.
“Mozambique LNG was in contact with the authorities to ensure that investigations were made and, if necessary, sanctions were enforced, which fall within the exclusive competence of the Mozambican state.” A full version of Total’s response (in French) is available here.

Coverage suspended

In a video investigation by Le Monde using footage and interviews gathered in Mozambique by SourceMaterial, civilians who fled the insurgency described how troops imprisoned them for months in shipping containers outside the entrance to Total’s evacuated compound.

Other victims described beatings and rape. Total has said that it was unaware of the container incident, first reported by Politico in September. But SourceMaterial’s November investigation revealed that the company received regular reports about other abuses. While Total suspended bonuses to the suspects, it continued to support the task force as a whole.

UK Export Finance told SourceMaterial that it is taking the allegations that Total knew of alleged abuse “extremely seriously”, while the Dutch export credit agency said it was reassessing their support for the project.

A spokesman for UK Export Finance, whose support package is valued at $1.15 billion, said that the agency takes the allegations “extremely seriously” and is “looking into them”. 

“UKEF is currently in talks with project sponsors and other lenders regarding the latest status of the LNG production project in Mozambique,” he said. 

A spokesman for the Dutch finance ministry, speaking on behalf of Atradius, the Netherlands’ export credit agency, said that a reassessment of the project is continuing. 

“The Ministry of Finance has taken note of the articles written by SourceMaterial and Le Monde,” he said. “We will therefore also study the content of this article and include it in the reassessment.”

Atradius has supported the project via the dredging company Van Oord, contracted to build many of the offshore elements of Total’s Mozambique operation.

Total had aimed to restart the project in 2024 but conceded earlier this month that it would not be in operation until 2029. However, a Van Oord dredging ship recently returned to work off Palma, close to where two fishermen were detained and later beaten to death in 2022—one of the incidents revealed in SourceMaterial’s investigation. 

Total’s spokesman said that a human rights commission set up by the Mozambique government did not conclude that the fishermen were killed by the Total-backed joint task force. Mozambique LNG, the Total-led consortium, only recommenced bonus payments to troops once it was assured that no individual implicated in the killing was part of the force, he said.

The Dutch government has withdrawn coverage from Van Oord while it reviews its support for the project, the finance ministry spokesman said.

“The Ministry of Finance is aware that Van Oord has resumed its activities on the ground,” he said. Since the reassessment is still ongoing, Van Oord is doing this without coverage from the export credit insurance.”

‘Critical milestone’

The largest and most critical chunk of funding, some $4.7 billion, was to be provided by the US Export-Import Bank, or Exim. 

In a letter recently published on the US’s lobbying register, Pouyanné, Total’s chief executive, urged the US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo to help secure the financing before the inauguration of Donald Trump. 

“Mozambique LNG has reached a critical milestone for restarting this project and without the previously approved loan, and US government support, work on the Mozambique LNG project may not be resumed or completed,” Pouyanné wrote in December.

Total’s appeal fell on deaf ears and an approval did not arrive in the final days of the Biden administration. In a statement, Exim’s interim chairman Spencer Bachus said that the agency is “urgently conducting a fresh review” of the finance package to ensure it is consistent with the Trump administration’s policies.

Sace, the Italian export credit agency, is pressing ahead, having reapproved its funding this month. Angelo Bonelli, an Italian MP with the Greens and Left Alliance, is calling for a parliamentary inquiry. 

“Sace cannot continue to provide insurance coverage for oil and gas extraction, especially in places where there are conflicts and where there is torture and exploitation linked precisely to oil and gas extraction,” Bonelli said.

Headline picture: SourceMaterial