In a presidential decree made public on July 4, 2023, the President of the Republic of Cameroon brought Haruna Bako at the General Directorate of Cameroon oil transportation company (COTCO). Following the Board meeting held in the morning. Paul Biya thus puts an end to the barely started lease of Nicolas de Blanpre who was brought to the head of the company on June 2. The man named by Savannah Energythe British company which claims to have bought Exxon Mobil’s shares in COTCO’s shareholding, will have spent only a month at the head of the company which manages the Cameroonian part of thePipeline Tchad-Cameroun. COTCO’s Board of Directors has entrusted the Cameroonian with the reins of the company. The training magistrate will be assisted by Haoua Daoussa Debyuntil now Chad’s representative at COTCO and former deputy general manager of the Ndjamena Refining Company.
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Immediately, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, the President of the Chadian Transitional Military Council, welcomed this act with a tweet in which the Chadian number one wrote that “ the nationalization process is coming to an end. Sovereignly“. Clearly, the act of the board of directors endorsed by the Cameroonian president matches Ndjamena’s plans in this matter. Speaking without a doubt of the ex-Esso decided in March 2023. Esso Pipeline Investments Limited (EPIL) being the buyer of the ExxonMobil assets that Savannah claims to have bought. A transaction that Chad never admitted and ended up dismissing the administrators of Savannah and nationalizing COTCO. Confirmed by the CEMAC Commission, which authorized it since mid-May to acquire the assets of Petronas Carigali Chad exploration & Production Inc via the Chad Hydrocarbons Company (SHT). This after the assent of the Community Competition Commission which was blocked by Cameroon’s signature. One of the points of tension in relations between the two neighboring countries.
End of diplomatic tensions
And in fact, the appointment of Harouna Bako at the head of COTCO occurs in a context marked by one of the acquisition of assets to end the diplomatic crisis between Cameroon and Chad. Regarding the management of ex-ExxonMobil assets in COTCO’s shareholding; and the Petronas affair. At the height of tensions, Chad recalled its ambassador to Cameroon. After SNH decided to conclude a shareholders’ pact with Savannah Energy in COTCO, thus integrating the British company that Ndjamena considers as a nebula in which Cameroonians hold interests. Negotiations between Yaoundé and Ndjamena followed, with a visit from the Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic (SGPR) of Cameroon, then the reciprocal on June 19, 2023. At the end of the audience with the Cameroonian president, Gali Ngothé Gatta indicated that he had come to meet the Cameroonian president to ” good co-management [du pipeline Tchad-Cameroun] and a step forward that no longer allows the dissensions that we have known in the past “. Subsequently, the country of Paul Biya slowed down and let the STH acquire the assets of de Petronas Carigali Chad Exploration & Production inc. Cameroon was the only CEMAC country that had not yet granted its non-objection in this deal. Suddenly, Chad became the majority shareholder of Cotco, with 53.77% of the shares.
The high representative of Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno has regained his diplomatic post in Yaoundé. The Ndjamena strongman then appointed new leaders in Savannah; while in Yaoundé, Paul Biya had to intervene in the conflict between Adolphe Moudiki the general manager of the National Hydrocarbons Company (NHS) and Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh the SGPR, maintaining the representative of the Ministry of Finance (MINFI), Judith Menguel on the Cotco Board of Directors. The latter having chosen to support the interests of Chad, thus refusing to align itself with the positions of the SNH, which defended Savannah’s cause at the Board of Directors on May 24 in Paris. With the intention of increasing its participation in Cotco’s shareholding. But Savannah is a ” nebula in the eyes of Chad, which wants to oust him from the management of the pipeline.
The appointment of Harouna Bako as head of Cotco is a logical continuation of the positions already taken by Judith Meguele, who, on June 8, had already maintained Judith Menguele as Minfi’s representative on the Cotco board of directors. It is therefore very likely that Cameroon’s participation in the capital of COTCO will be improved very soon in this co-management. Chad holding for the moment with 53.77% of the shares. While saving the “sovereignty” of Chad.
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