Chad Suspends Ministers Over Oil Deals

N’DJAMENA, Chad -- Chad’s president suspended the oil minister and two other Cabinet members who negotiated deals with two foreign oil companies that he ordered out of the country, alleging that they had failed to pay taxes, officials said Sunday.

President Idriss Deby suspended the three ministers Saturday after telling San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron Corp. and Malaysian company Petronas that they owed Chad $450 million in taxes and should begin making plans to leave, a government official said.

The official asked not to be named because he was not authorized to release information to the media. The two companies are part of an oil production consortium led by Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp.

Petroleum Minister Mahmat Nasser Hassan, Planning Minister Mahmat Ali Hassan and Livestock Minister Mokhtar Moussa, who were suspended, had negotiated the agreements with Chevron and Petronas.

The ministers made no public statements Sunday. It was unclear how and when Chad would enforce the expulsion order, which was announced by Deby in a message broadcast on state-run radio.

Petronas, or Petroliam Nasional, said Sunday that it had not received notification of the order. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also said Hassan Merican, the chief executive of Petronas, was trying to obtain information from the company’s Chad office.

“Let Petronas get the information on how this could have happened,” Abdullah was quoted as saying by Malaysia’s national news agency, Bernama.

Chevron said in a statement Saturday that it had not been behind on any tax payments and had not been told to leave Chad.

“Chevron has not received any official notification from the republic of Chad government asking Chevron to leave the country over tax issues,” the statement said. “However, Chevron has been in full compliance with all of our tax obligations.”

Mark D. Boudreaux, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil, told the Associated Press by e-mail that neither his company nor affiliate Esso Chad has been asked to leave the country.

Oil and livestock are the mainstays of impoverished Chad’s economy, and the fields overseen by Chevron and Petronas account for about 60% of the country’s oil production. Deby said Chad would assume their production responsibilities.

Exxon Mobil, along with Chevron and Petronas, had agreed to finance a 660-mile underground pipeline from landlocked Chad to the Atlantic port of Kribi, in Cameroon.

Exxon Mobil has a 40% stake in the $4.2-billion pipeline project. Chevron and Petronas each have 30%.

In return, Chad receives about 12.5% of the profit made on each barrel exported. The annual profit from the pipeline is estimated at $120 million for the next 25 years.