Chad, Cameroon lay oil pipeline foundation stones
© 2000 Reuters Limited
October 19, 2000
N'DJAMENA - Chadian President Idriss Deby and Cameroonian President Paul Biya are to lay the foundation stone of the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline yesterday in the southern Chad town of Kome, a source close to Chad's presidency said.
Deby and Biya are to lay a foundation stone at the other end of the pipeline on Friday at Cameroon's port of Kribi, Cameroon's state radio said.The 1,070 kilometres (669 mile) pipeline is due to be operational by 2005, when it will transport 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the Doba basin of land-locked Chad to Kribi for export.
The pipeline is to be constructed by a consortium of French oil services firm Bouygues Offshore (BOS) , Bouygues Travaux Publiques, U.S. contractor Kellogg Brown and Root, and Anglo-French Alsthom Industrial Systems and Services.
The development of the Doba oilfield, which is to include some 300 wells, is to cost over $3.1 billion. The field is to produce about one billion barrels of oil over its 25 to 30 year lifetime.
The project is operated by ExxonMobil with a 40 percent share, Malaysian state oil firm Petronas with a 35 percent stake and U.S. Chevron with 25 percent. The World Bank is lending $222 million to ExxonMobil.
The construction of the pipeline, which is to cut through one of the world's last primary rainforests in East Cameroon, has been delayed by environmentalists and human rights groups.
They argue that it will destroy large parts of the rainforest, pollute rivers and the coastal mangrove swamps and support a government in Chad which has been accused of human rights abuses.