Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 28 -- Chad President Idriss Déby has accused Chevron Corp. and Malaysia's state-owned Petronas of failing to pay taxes and ordered the companies to leave the country.
Déby said three ministers involved in the deal with Chevron and Petronas would cease work and go before judicial authorities "to answer for their acts." He did not name the ministers and no further details were available.
Chevron denied the charges, saying it has been in full compliance with all of its tax obligations, while Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said, "This is a big surprise to me."
It is "unlikely for a credible company like Petronas to be dragged into such a controversy," Abdullah said. He also ordered Petronas Pres. Hassan Marican to lead an investigation by sending a team to Chad.
Chevron and Petronas have a respective 25% and 35% stake in a consortium that produces 170,000 b/d of oil in Chad. ExxonMobil Corp., which holds a 40% state in the venture and is the project's main operator, was not asked to leave.
On Aug. 26 Déby said Chad and ExxonMobil would manage the oil while "waiting to find a solution to the two other partners."
Déby said the consortium had earned $5 billion for a $3 billion investment, while Chad had received $588 million, which he described as the "crumbs."
To increase Chad's own share of its oil revenue, Déby last week told his government to renegotiate the contract it signed in 1988 with the US-Malaysian consortium.
But Mahamat Bechir Okormi, the Chadian minister for state control and ethics, denied there has been any attempt by the government to take control of the oil production. He said, "We want them to pay the tax. There's no other solution."
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].