Chad’s president signs bill to nationalize Exxon Mobil assets

KIGALI, Rwanda

Chad’s transitional leader Mahamat Idriss Deby signed into law Friday a bill nationalizing assets belonging to Exxon Mobil, the presidency announced.

The law stipulates that all assets, prospection rights, operating permits and oil-transport authorizations held by Esso Exploration and Production Chad Inc. “are nationalized.”

The assets also include ExxonMobil’s interest in the more than 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) Chad-Cameroon pipeline from Chad to the Atlantic Gulf of the Guinea coast used to export crude.

The transitional president “signed the law promulgating the nationalization of all assets and rights of Esso Exploration and Production and Esso Pipeline Investments Companies,” said a statement.

The move came months after ExxonMobil closed the sale of its operations in Chad and Cameroon in December to British-listed Africa-focused oil and gas energy company, Savannah Energy in a $407 million deal.

The sale was contested by the Chadian military government.

Chad’s Petroleum and Energy Minister Djerassem Le Bemadjiel said Wednesday the controversial decision was reached after ExxonMobil ignored the conditions provided for in various agreements signed with the government.

Esso-ExxonMobil has been operating in the West African country for decades.

Last week, Savannah Energy said it would seek legal redress, arguing that the actions of the Chadian government are in direct breach of international conventions.

Savannah owns a 40% interest in the Doba Oil project in southern Chad, which has seven producing oilfields with a combined output of 28,000 barrels per day.