ANOTHER
BIG OIL PRODUCER FOR AFRICA? CHAD HOPES TO TRIPLE CRUDE OUTPUT BY 2015
“We
aim to become the business hub of FRANCOPHONE central AFRICA,” said Finance
Minister Atteib Doutoum, according to Bloomberg. The extra revenues will be used to fund the
construction of a business zone, projected cost over $500 million, in the
capital city of N’djamena.
CHAD
is AFRICA’S fifth-largest country, and it ranks 10th in terms of the size of
its oil reserves: 1.5 billion barrels. Oil production began in 2003, after a
pipeline was completed connecting CHAD to the Atlantic Ocean via CAMEROON.
Production was around 115,000 barrels per day in 2011, but dropped to about
105,000 in 2012, according to the U.S.
Energy Information Administration. This year, production has fallen below 100,000
bpd.
EU INTEREST
IN STABILIZING CHAD
CHAD
is still rebuilding after decades of unrest and internal strife, though the
country has been relatively stable since the mid-1990s under the rule of
President Idriss Deby. Armed militants, religious tensions and rampant poverty
still plague the country of 13 million.
The
government hopes that once new oilfields near LAKE CHAD begin production,
output will hit 200,000 bpd next year and 300,000 bpd by 2015. Those are
ambitions plans for the vast desert country, but it still wouldn’t come close
to the output from AFRICA’S biggest producers like NIGERIA, which boasts about
2 million bpd, or ANGOLA, which peaked at around 1.7 million bpd this spring.
Still, oil exports are invaluable to the CHADIAN government; they bring in
about $1.2 billion annually, or 80 percent of revenues.
SEVEN ECONOMIES IN SUB - SAHARAN
AFRICA ARE EXPECTED TO BE AMONG THE TEN FASTEST GROWING ECONOMIES IN THE WORLD.
Read entire article at:
CHAD’S
use of those funds has been a point of contention. At the beginning of its oil
boom, CHAD was working closely with the World Bank and EUROPEAN UNION development
agencies, which helped build the CAMEROON pipeline but set out a key
stipulation: 80 percent of all royalties earned via the pipeline would have to
be spent on development initiatives. Half of CHAD’S population lives in
poverty, the literacy rate is less than 40 percent, and life expectancy is
among the world’s lowest at 50.
WHY THE SAHEL IS CRUCIAL TO
EUROPE'S NEIGHBORHOOD – AND ITS SECURITY STRATEGY. Read entire article at:
MOUNTING BORDER CONFLICT WITH SUDAN MAY HINDER ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
But
CHAD did not adhere to the agreement, arguing instead that defense had to take
a priority due to ongoing insurgent activities along the border with SUDAN. A
disappointed World Bank withdrew from the agreement in 2008, at which point CHINA
swooped in with investments of its own to spur CHAD’S growing hydrocarbon industry.
AFRICA,
A CONTINENT WHICH DECADES AGO WAS OF NO OR MERELY PERIPHERAL INTEREST TO THE
REST OF THE WORLD SUDDENLY BECOMES A FOCAL POINT. Read entire article
at:
Finance
Minister Atteib Doutoum is vague about the cause of the recent production
slowdown, blaming it on technical difficulties. (There have also been hints
that CHINA’S involvement hasn’t been all smooth sailing; last month, CHAD
suspended the operations of the CHINA National Petroleum Corporation in a
southern field where it had spilled massive amounts of oil, causing serious
environmental damage.) But the finance minister’s predictions about increased
capacity over the next few years offer some hope for a country where
developmental spending is long overdue.
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