Chad’s transitional leader Mahamat Idriss Deby has signed into law, a bill nationalising assets belonging to Exxon Mobil.
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 government announced.
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 on Friday “signed the law promulgating the nationalization of all assets and rights of Esso Exploration and Production and Esso Pipeline Investments Companies,” said a statement from Chadian presidency.
The bill signed by the Chadian leader, Mahamat Deby, had been passed by the country's parliament on Wednesday.
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 that the country took the decision because ExxonMobil ignored the conditions provided for in various agreements signed with the government.
Esso-ExxonMobil has been operating in the Central 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.
