Selling hope in Mozambique: Corporate framing and future forecasting of the natural gas development project Mozambique LNG

Abstract

The discovery of large quantities of natural gas just off the Northern Mozambican coast has stirred much speculation about what the findings will mean for the country’s economy, people and environment. The aim of this research is to identify how the future of Mozambique, as a result of natural gas development, is being framed by the consortium Mozambique Liquified Natural Gas (henceforth referred to as Mozambique LNG). Equally important is understanding what is being left out or downplayed in these framings. This is achieved by performing a comparative framing analysis which entails identifying frames found on the consortium’s website through a manual coding scheme. Those frames are then compared with research that frame possible futures for the Mozambican gas development using analytical forecasting tools. The main findings include how the consortium Mozambique LNG frame potential benefits for the people and economy of Mozambique, and exposes a lack of consideration for the effort needed to realize the future they have framed. The conclusion ought to be that informed positioning and decisionmaking require that optimistic corporate framings are balanced by looking outside the frame’s edges, at a wider spectrum of considerations.