Port of Longoni
photo : DR
Significant lobbying actions have been engaged for several months to determine which port infrastructure will be better to accommodate the rear base of companies that will exploit the gas field in the Mozambique Channel.
This gigantic deposit, the discovery of which was announced by the Italian oil company ENI in 2011, is unleashing passion and for good reason : 40 kilometers from the Mozambican coast and 1,500 meters deep, the deposit is estimated at 425 billion m3. What attracts the majors like Total and EXXON which must exploit this deposit in two stages (2024 for Total and 2025 for EXXON). This LNG-type gas (Liquefied Natural Gas) requires significant infrastructure requiring nearly US $ 130 billion over 10 years with the direct employment of 40,000 people!
What to give some points of growth to the GDP of Mozambique, where the deposit is located, but also to the whole sub-region. Except that on the land side, in Cabo Delgado precisely, the Islamist attacks totally destabilize the region with its batches of attacks and massive displacement of populations.
All of a sudden, a reliable rear base is needed to secure the logistics of these facilities and according to our sources, two ports are in competition: Longoni in Mayotte (France) and Mombasa in Kenya.
If Mayotte hopes to hit the jackpot by taking advantage of its proximity (20 hours of navigation from the deposit), and its status as an outermost region of the European Union, the French department nevertheless remains in the throes of a bad image. due to repeated strikes that punctuate the social life of this territory in search of rapid catching up with the Metropolis.
More recently, the intervention of the president of the Departmental Council of Mayotte, Soibahadine IBRAHIM RAMADANI addressing the (bad) minister to ask for the development of a Grand Port Maritime totally irrelevant, made people smile yellow in high places (read l ‘editorial “Let’s be serious” by Denis Herrmann on this subject). To be continued…
Jacques Rombi
