Early exploitation Oil exploration in Chad began in the 1950s while the country was still under
French colonial administration. At least three oil rich areas were discovered in the country, however due to the high cost that would have been incurred in exploiting the finds, the French opted not to develop them. At the time the bulk of France's petroleum was being imported from
Algeria and the
Middle East. In 1960, Chad achieved its independence from France, and
François Tombalbaye took over the country as its first president. Tombalbaye enlisted
Conoco, an American oil and gas company to search for oil reserves. The company found oil in several areas in 1973-1975, notably the
Doba Basin in the
Central African Rift system, and the Sedigui area of
Lake Chad. In 1975, Tombalbaye was killed by soldiers in a
coup d'état and he was replaced with a military junta. This further intensified an already ongoing civil war between the government led by
Goukouni Oueddei who became head of state of Chad in 1979, and
Hissène Habré, the French and U.S.-backed former defense minister. During this period of especially heavy fighting, Conoco and other foreign oil companies suspended their oil exploitation efforts and left the country. Throughout the 1980s, very little was done to cultivate the petroleum industry owing to political instability, internal conflict, and the
Chadian–Libyan conflict. In 2000, a new oil consortium emerged, which included
Exxon (operating in Chad as Esso),
Chevron, and
Petronas, and formed into the Tchad Oil Transportation Company. The consortium was American led with Exxon and Chevron combined holding 65% of the stake in the deal, and the consortium promised an investment of $3.7 billion to drill Chad's oil wells and construct a pipeline from the country to Cameroon to export the resources. As agreed upon with the government, some of this money would go to poverty-reduction projects and developing Chad's infrastructure. Chad would receive about 12.5% of the profit made on each barrel exported. In 2006, President Déby ordered
Chevron and
Petronas to immediately leave Chad for supposedly refusing to pay $450 million in taxes, leaving Exxon as the sole oil company from the original consortium left in the country. However, many viewed the expulsion as a method to make way for increased Chadian government involvement in the country's oil production or even to make room for Chinese oil companies with Chad recently having restored relations with
Beijing. Shortly after, Déby suspended three of his cabinet members including Mahmat Nasser Hassan, Chad's oil minister. In 2016, a Chadian court levied a $74 billion fine on Exxon, an amount seven times the size of Chad's economy, for allegedly failing to pay royalties. The following year, Exxon settled the dispute and was able to keep its exploration permit. In 2023, the Chadian government nationalized all the assets and rights including hydrocarbon permits and exploration and production authorisations that belonged to a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil.
Chinese activities Chinese involvement in the Chadian economy began in 2006, shortly after
N'Djamena restored diplomatic relations with
Beijing, and in 2008,
China National Petroleum Company entered a joint venture with the Chadian National Hydrocarbon Company to build an oil refinery north of N'djamena with plans to produce 20,000 barrels per day. In addition, the refinery also included a petroleum college and maintains a training program for Chadian locals. Chinese oilmen also began to explore new oil fields and conduct seismic studies and in 2009, exploitation of a new oil field began. In 2014, Chad suspended
China National Petroleum Corporation from exploration for environmental infractions and issued a fine of $1.2 billion. The same year the Chadian government announced its intention to substantially increase oil production in the country from around 100,000 bpd to 260,000 bpd by the end of 2016. ==Pipeline==