The West African nation’s energy and hydrocarbons ministry said in a statement on Thursday that Chad has nationalized all assets and rights, including hydrocarbon permits and exploration and production authorizations, belonging to a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil.
Exxon Mobil announced in December 2022 that it had reached a $407 million agreement to sell its operations in Chad and Cameroon to the London-listed Savannah Energy.
However, the Chadian government contested the deal, claiming that the final terms were different from those that had been presented to it.
At the time, the government issued a warning, threatening to take further action to safeguard its interests and urge the courts to halt Savannah’s purchase of Exxon’s assets in the nation.
One of Exxon’s holdings was a 40 percent share in the Doba oil project in Chad, which consists of seven operating oilfields with a total daily production of 28,000 barrels (bpd).
Also, it covered Exxon’s stake in the over 1,000 km (621 mi) Chad-Cameroon pipeline, which transports crude from the landlocked country to the shore of the Atlantic Gulf of Guinea.
Exxon Mobil could not be reached for comment right away.
Nonetheless, Savannah announced on Friday that it would exercise all of its legal options to challenge Chad’s decision to nationalize its upstream assets in the African nation a day earlier.
The Republic of Chad’s actions, according to its statement, “is in direct violation of the Conventions to which SCI and the Republic of Chad are, among others, parties.”
The Business plans to exercise all of its legal rights, and the Conventions are subject to the Paris-based jurisdiction of an ICC tribunal.
Chad exports 90 percent of its oil and has the 10th largest reserves in Africa.
