Chad has announced the nationalisation of all the assets and rights held by ExxonMobil's affiliate Esso in the country. This includes a 40% stake in seven producing oil fields (Kome, Miandoum, Bolobo, Moundouli, Maikeri, Nya and Timbre) in the Doba bassin with a combined oil production of 28 kb/d (2022) and combined 2P reserve base of 142 mbl, related hydrocarbon permits and exploration and production authorisations, and a 40% interest in TOTCO (Chad Oil Transportation Company), the operator of the Chadian section of the 1,081 km-long Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline with a capacity of 250,000 bbl/d.
In December 2022, ExxonMobil announced the completion of the sale of its entire upstream and midstream asset portfolio in Chad and Cameroon to the British independent energy company Savannah Energy for US$407m. In Cameroon, the transaction included a pipeline and the Kribi 1 floating storage and offloading (FPSO) facility offshore Cameroon. The Chadian government contested the sale, claiming that the final terms were different from those ExxonMobil had presented, warned that it may ask courts to block the transaction and take further measures to protect its interests.
Savannah Energy, which was considering investments of up to US$500m to develop 500 MW of renewable projects at the Doba oil project, now plans to pursue its legal rights to contest the nationalisation.