Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Crude Oil and Natural Gas Liquids Country Notes

Chad

Proved recoverable reserves (crude oil and NGLs, million tonnes)	222
Production (crude oil and NGLs, million tonnes, 2005)	9.3
R/P ratio (years)	23.8
Year of first commercial production	2003

The West African republic of Chad joined the ranks of the world's crude oil producers in July 2003, after the construction of a 1 070 km export pipeline from the oil fields in the Doba Basin of southern Chad through Cameroon to a new terminal at Kribi. The development of the Doba Basin fields (Bolobo, Komé and Miandoum) and the pipeline is handled by a consortium consisting of ExxonMobil (40%), Petronas, the Malaysian state oil company (35%), and ChevronTexaco (25%).

In 2002 recoverable reserves were stated by Esso Exploration & Production Chad, Inc. to be 'slightly more than 900 million barrels'. For the purpose of the present Survey, Oil & Gas Journal's estimate of 1 500 million barrels as at end-2005 has been adopted for proved reserves, as further fields have been developed and are being brought into production.

The oil offered for export is called Doba Blend. Initial supplies were typically of 24.8o API and 0.14% sulphur; after March 2004, when the Komé field came on-stream, the blend's characteristics moved to a lower gravity (20.5o API) and a slightly higher sulphur content (0.16%).