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A court in N’djamena has fined the ExxonMobil-led consortium producing oil from the Doba Basin $76bn in a dispute about royalties. Exxon said it disagreed with the court’s ruling and was “evaluating next steps”. It said the dispute was over “commitments made by the government to the consortium, not the government’s ability to impose taxes”. The court awarded the finance ministry CFA483.6bn in damages, plus a penalty of CFA44,294bn. The consortium has lodged an appeal in N’djamena as well as a case at the International Court of Arbitration in Paris.

Taiwan’s CPC Corporation has farmed down half of its 70% stake in three exploration licences to CEFC China Energy Company, following a drilling programme in 2015. According to the transfer agreement between CPC and China CEFC Energy, the privately owned Chinese firm paid $114m for a 35% stake, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported. CPC retains 35% and state oil company Société des Hydrocarbures du Tchad (SHT) holds the other 30%. CPC’s OPIC Africa subsidiary operates the Chari Ouest III, Chari Sud II and Lac Tchad 1 blocks.

The US Department of Justice on 30 June filed a complaint in the Columbia District Court for the civil forfeiture of £22m, the value of shares in the former Griffiths Energy International used to bribe Chad’s former ambassador to Washington, Mahamoud Adam Bechir. Griffiths Energy was fined C$10.35m by a Calgary court in January 2013 for violating the Canadian Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act. The company renamed itself Caracal Energy and was bought by Glencore in 2014.In 2009, Griffiths’ founder Brad Griffiths, who later died in a boating accident, and his business partner Naeem Tyab agreed to pay Bechir and his associates $2m in currency and shares for their help in influencing the award of oil acreage in Chad.

Regalis Petroleum is preparing to drill a well on the Serem prospect on the DOA Block in the Doba Basin. Lead subsurface engineer Michael McPhail told Global Pacific & Partners’ Africa Independents Forum on 27 May that the prospect, a four-way dip closure identified on 2D seismic, was comparable to the adjacent Mangara field being developed by Glencore Xstrata, which bought Caracal Energy last year. McPhail said Serem had a recoverable resource estimate of over 100m barrels, and oil could be exported via the Mangara export pipeline.

Fuel shortages and spiralling prices have triggered demonstrations across Chad that have generated more than the usual attention, with several francophone African leaders on edge following the popular protests and coup that removed President Blaise Compaoré in Burkina Faso. Industry reports have said the shortages are due to the Djermaya refinery’s closure for maintenance since early October; it is not scheduled to resume operations until 30 November. While the authorities had put in place stocks to cover the maintenance period, consumer panic and speculation are said to have triggered an unexpected crisis.

Chad has been accepted as a full member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) at an EITI board meeting in Myanmar on 15 October. An EITI statement said the country was deemed ‘compliant’ with the global EITI transparency standard, which means Chadians have access to extensive information about how their natural resources are governed.“Thanks to the EITI, some major reforms have been engaged when it comes to follow-up of revenue collection and payments from the extractive industries. Implementing the EITI has allowed us to realise that we do not have an adequate system for tracking these revenues.

Société Nationale de l’Electricité (SNE) has signed an agreement with Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) for the Moroccan utility to provide technical assistance, training, maintenance of generation assets and upkeep of transport and distribution networks. The agreement was signed by SNE managing director Mahamat Cherif Senoussi during a 16 September visit to Rabat.

Chevron Global Energy has sold its 25% non-operated interest in the Doba Basin to the government for $1.3bn. The sale closed on 13 June. The transaction includes the sale of Chevron’s interests in seven fields in the Doba Basin, which in 2013 had average crude oil production of 18,000 b/d net to Chevron. The sale also includes a 21% non-operated interest in the export pipeline system that transports crude to Cameroon’s Kribi port, and associated marine facilities.

Canada’s United Hydrocarbon International Corporation (UHIC) says exploration drilling in H1 has revealed bigger-than-expected reserves in its Doba Basin Block and it is about to seek funding or a farm-in partner. Vice-president capital markets Frederick Kozak told Global Pacific & Partners’ Africa Independents’ Forum in London on 3 June that the company would make an announcement “in the next couple of weeks” on the hiring of an investment bank to oversee the process. UHIC began its drilling programme on 3 January, and has so far drilled a successful development well at Belanga-1A and exploration well at Belanga North-1, as well as a dry hole with the Toura-1 exploration well.

Minerals giant Glencore Xstrata has agreed to buy its Chad partner Caracal Energy for £5.50/share, valuing the Canadian company at $1.35bn. The deal means Caracal will walk away from a previously agreed merger with Calgary-based TransGlobe Energy Corporation, paying a $9.25m termination fee (AE 274/14). The sale price represents a 61% premium to the £3.42 closing price of Caracal’s shares on 11 April, the last trading day before the announcement. Despite this, the price is widely seen as a good deal for Glencore, representing an internal rate of return of more than 20%. The deal is also good news for Calgary-based United Hydrocarbon International Corporation, which is looking for a partner for its DOC and DOD licences, where it believes it has structures analogous to Kenya’s prolific South Lokichar Basin (AE 274/17).

Canada’s United Hydrocarbon International Corporation has announced two successful wells on its licence area in the Doba Basin as its 2014 drilling campaign gets under way. The Belanga North-1 exploration well was drilled to a total depth of 1,392 metres and encountered three oil-bearing sand intervals; two in the targeted Upper Cretaceous sands with a combined thickness of 16.5 metres, and a previously untested five-metre sand interval in a shallower horizon. The well flowed at 680 b/d on test, and the oil recovered was similar to that in the nearby producing Doba fields.

Canadian companies Caracal Energy and TransGlobe Energy Corporation have agreed an all-share merger bringing together their operations in Chad and Egypt. The merged company will operate under the Caracal name, led by Caracal chief executive Gary Guidry and a combination of the two companies’ executive teams. TransGlobe has a 50-100% working interest in eight concession blocks in Egypt, as well as interests in four production-sharing agreements in Yemen, while Caracal has three production-sharing contracts in Chad, and started production in October from the Badila field.

President Idriss Déby Itno has attempted to get tough with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) over environmental violations at the Ronier field. This minor development is significant because of increased international interest in the Chadian upstream, with new companies taking acreage in the hope of finding successful rift basin plays, and for what it says about N’Djaména’s relationship with its biggest investor. The government halted CNPC’s operations in August after finding waste crude stored in open pits. However, it lifted the suspension in October after CNPC promised to literally clean up its act.

Aggreko has signed contracts with Société Nationale d’Electricité (SNE) to deliver 20MW of temporary power running on local heavy fuel oil. Aggreko said the fast-track plant would provide badly needed extra capacity for the capital, which suffers from chronic supply problems. The inauguration in March of the Lamadji substation, which supplies 20MW from the power plant at the Djermaya refinery to the capital’s grid, has done little to ease the situation. The substation is part of a transmission and distribution infrastructure project for which contracts were signed in April 2010 with China Machinery Engineering Corporation.

Canadian junior Caracal Energy has announced the start of oil shipments from the Badila field. The production facilities were inaugurated on 9 June and, on 30 September, Caracal began pumping oil into the transportation system that connects the Badila field to the Chad-Cameroon export pipeline. Caracal’s joint venture partners are Société des Hydrocarbures du Tchad and Glencore Xstrata. Caracal will initially produce oil to fulfil the joint venture’s share of the line-fill, estimated at just over 450,000 barrels, after which it can accumulate oil for sale.