Prez of Chad Kicks Out Chevron
Chadian President Idriss Deby asserts that the country must have a 60% stake in its oil output after receiving only "crumbs" from a foreign consortium running the industry.
Such a stake would match the share held by two companies, U.S. major Chevron Corp. and Malaysia's Petronas, which President Deby ordered to leave the country three days ago. He says the two companies are refusing to pay taxes owed totaling 250 billion CFA francs ($486.2 million).
Chevron, the No. 2 U.S. oil company, confirmed it had received notification from the Chadian government to discontinue operations because of the dispute over taxes. Petronas has said it is seeking clarification.Some analysts view the expulsion order as a crude move by President Deby, who has ruled Chad since 1990 after seizing power, to grab a controlling state stake in the consortium, which is led by Exxon Mobil and started pumping oil in Chad in 2003. Addressing a rally, President Deby said his landlocked African state, ranked among the poorest -- and most corrupt -- in the world, was not benefiting enough from its oil.
The Chadian state currently has no direct stake but receives royalties and taxes. "How can we fight poverty and develop our country with crumbs?" he told cheering supporters, some carrying banners reading "Chad's black gold is not for anyone else".
posted by Libertas @ 8/31/2006 01:22:00 PM
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2 Comments:
Sounds like a scam to me. If this consortium did all the development and infrastructure work, and the Chadian govt does nothing but cash checks what do they expect?
Of course now that they've tossed out the people who know how to run it, the whole thing will fall into disrepair in a few short years and revenues will probably drop to zero.
What major oil field development/service companies would risk working in Chad again after a move like this? They would be fools to risk it.
The interesting thing is to see how the oil is marketed by the three majors and what the government of Chad gets out of it.
Is the oil sold at the right price?
where does it really end up, th oil?
Countries usually want to physically have a portion of their oil, it seems logical and ot just cash dollrs given to them by the operators. The oil is a strategic ressource for any country and the Governments will want to control at least part of the production.
The big mistake was to not include Chad as a partner in the first place, even giving them a minority share....
Who can now blame them for wanting a share of their ressurces? They might not get the 60%, they will not kick out Chevron and Petronas completely, but the three oil companies will have tremendous pressure to give the Government of Chad a equity stake in the production...
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