Poor Chad opens oil fields

KOME, Chad -- Chad officially joined the ranks of oil-exporting nations Friday under a project expected to double the revenue of one of the world's five poorest countries. But many Chadians wondered whether they will ever reap benefits from the first oil deal specifically designed to reduce poverty.

The $3.7 billion project is led by Exxon Mobil and backed by the World Bank, which had been called upon to vet the program in part because the oil wealth of other west African states -- including Gabon, Cameroon, Nigeria and lately, Equatorial Guinea -- has done little to benefit those populations.

Leaders of Niger, Republic of Congo, Sudan and Central African Republic attended the launch ceremony Friday at Exxon Mobil's sprawling Kome base.

Ten percent is to be placed in a trust for Chad's future generations, 5 percent is to be used for the development of the Doba region in which the oil fields are located and, eventually, 80 percent is to be spent on developing the country's health, education and infrastructure.

Both Chad and the World Bank have set up monitoring bodies to verify that the procedure is followed. But many Chadians are highly suspicious, particularly people in the Kome-Doba area, which is the country's most fertile region but historically has been the most marginalized.

Thirty years of civil war and regional conflict in the Kome-Doba region ended only in the early 1990s.

Speaking before the official opening of the valve that sends oil into the underground pipeline, President Idriss Deby cautioned that despite the wealth that Chad will earn, the country's economy will remain based on agriculture and livestock production.

"You can't drink oil, and you can't eat it," he said. "Chadian farmers and herders shouldn't even think of slowing down just because there is now oil."

He also vowed that the oil would "serve the interests of peace" in the country and the region.

Ron Royal, president of Esso Chad, Exxon Mobil's project operator, said he looked on the project "as just the start of the oil industry in Chad."

"You couldn't ask for a more interesting job than to see the birth of an oil industry before your eyes," Royal said during a tour of Kome base. "I tell the Chadians to remember this day to tell their grandchildren they were here."

At its height in 2001-2002, the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project employed about 12,000 people, mostly Chadians. But this number has already dropped to about 4,500, and Chadians are beginning to complain that foreigners -- especially Filipinos -- are taking the semiskilled maintenance and construction jobs they would like.

Ngarlejy Yorongar, a member of parliament from the oil region, has been leading the attack against the project, labeling it a "swindle" of the Chadian people.

"We don't even know how many barrels they will be pumping a day," he complained.

Exxon Mobil spokesman Miles Shaw said the company sends daily reports to the government, but few Chadians have access to government information.

A coalition of Chadian non-governmental organizations planned "a day of sorrow" Friday to highlight objections to the handling of the project.

Tom Erdimi, head of the Chadian team coordinating between the consortium and the government, sought to play down the often extravagant hopes raised by the project, which is estimated to earn Chad billions of dollars over the next 25 years.

"We hope that oil will change daily life and that we can all eat three meals a day and live better," Erdimi said.

In the villages and hamlets that dot the oil-producing region, gasoline and diesel imported from neighboring Nigeria are sold in one-quart bottles for about $1. Ox carts and bicycles are the main means of transport over red dirt roads.

On Oct. 3, the first 950,000 barrels of oil were shipped from Kribi and reportedly purchased by ConocoPhillips. Chad's first revenues are expected in the escrow account next month.