“Our expectation is that by the end of this year we can move to 130,000 bpd and by the end of next year probably double that production because we will have new fields,” Bedoumra said in an interview at an OECD forum on Africa. He added that the country expected a rebound in the growth rate this year to 11-13 percent and double digits again in 2015 as oil production ramps up.

Bedoumra said output would increase from the Mangara and Badila fields, which are operated by mining company Glencore Xstrata, and a new field managed by a China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) subsidiary.

 

Chad, a landlocked Central African country has, nevertheless, seen strong growth over the past decade as it has become an oil producer, although GDP growth slowed to 3.5 percent in 2013 due primarily to lower income from ageing wells in its Doba oilfield.

 

Earlier this year, the country suspended CNPC’s further exploration activity, citing violations of environmental standards while it was drilling for crude oil in the south. It ordered the company to pay a $1.2 billion fine, for which it filed a claim at the international arbitration court in Paris, and has cancelled five exploration licences held by CNPC, warning that if the fine is not paid it will re-auction them.

 

Bedoumra also said Chad was trying to unlock mineral resources after appointing firms, including French consultancy BRGM on a 3.5 year contract, to identify potential sites.

 

“It’s not just oil that we have underground. There are strong indications of gold, nickel, uranium and other minerals. We appointed consultants to identify what there is,” he said.

 

He said GPB Global Resources, a unit of Russia’s state-owned Gazprombank Group which in 2012 was awarded a five-year licence to explore for gold in southern Chad, had seen “positive” results and could begin exploiting its field in 2015.

Source : www.ventures-africa.com