FRANCE ABANDONS $20-B PROJECT IN AFRICA

LYONS: French petroleum giant Total has totally suspended contracts with at least two companies building infrastructure to support a $20-billion gas project in Mozambique, the biggest in the firm’s history, which has been left abandoned after a jihadist attack, the southern African country’s main business association said on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila). Total shut its operations in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province in early April, withdrawing all staff days after Islamic State-linked jihadists raided the nearby town of Palma on March 24. The oil giant had already evacuated some workers and suspended construction work on the $20-billion gas project in January following a series of jihadist attacks near the exploration site.