The nationalization of Exxon Mobil’s assets in Chad comes after the oil giants divested from them in December 2022.
Chad has nationalized all assets and rights, including hydrocarbon licenses and exploration and production licenses, that belonged to a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil, the West Africa ministry of energy and hydrocarbons said in a statement Thursday.
Exxon Mobil said in December 2022 it had completed the sale of its Chad and Cameroon operations to London-listed Savannah Energy in a $407 million deal, but the Chadian government disputed the deal, saying the final terms were different from what was presented. to it.
The government then warned it could ask courts to block Savannah’s purchase of Exxon’s assets in the country and take further steps to protect its interests.
Exxon’s assets included a 40 percent interest in the Doba oil project in Chad, which includes seven producing oil fields with a combined production of 28,000 barrels per day (bpd).
It also included Exxon’s interest in the more than 1,000 km (621 mi) Chad-Cameroon pipeline from the landlocked country to the coast of the Atlantic Gulf of Guinea, along which its crude oil is exported.
Exxon Mobil was not immediately available for comment.
But on Friday, Savannah said it plans to pursue all of its legal rights to challenge Chad’s move a day earlier to nationalize its upstream assets in the African country.
“The actions of the Republic of Chad are in direct violation of the treaties to which SCI and the Republic of Chad, among others, are parties,” the statement said.
“The treaties are subject to the jurisdiction of an ICC tribunal based in Paris and the company intends to pursue all of its legal rights.”
Chad, which has the 10th largest reserves in Africa, exports 90 percent of its oil.
