Cameroon Oil Transportation Company gets new CEO, assistant.

A meeting of the Board of Directors of the institution in Douala on Tuesday July 4, named Cameroon’s Bako Harouna as the new Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of the company.

He was serving as Deputy Managing Director of the Port Authority of Kribi, PAK, before his appointment to the new position. Bako will be assisted by Chad’s Haoua Daoussa Déby, who was until now, the Deputy General Manager of the Djermaya Oil Refinery, in his home country.

While Bako will be overseeing the management of the Cameroon section of the pipeline, his Chadian assistant will oversee the management of the Chadian section, the Board specified.

Chadian Minister of Energy and Hydrocarbons, Djerassem Bemadjiel, who sat through the Board of Directors meeting, told reporters that: “We came to execute the will of our two Heads of State who have put the interest of our two countries above any other consideration”.

According to him, the oil pipeline linking the two countries represents a lot in terms of economic integration between both countries, adding that nationals of Chad and Cameroon manage 99% its infrastructure today.

New page opens for COTCO

Observers say the appointments have been well thought out after Cameroon and the Republic of Chad were pushed into a diplomatic row by Savannah Energy. The leading African-focused British independent energy company had been nursing the ambition of taking over COTCO against the wish of the Chadian government.

The Cameroon Oil Transportation Company, created in 1998 is a Cameroonian joint venture set up by companies (Exxon, Chevron, Pretronas) as well as the governments of Chad and Cameroon as part of implementation of the Chad- Cameroon pipeline project.

COTCO’s mission is to export crude oil produced from Chad’s oil fields to international market. However, faced with threats from Savannah Energy to close the Chad- Cameroon pipeline for several months, it was wise for the structure to review its managerial system.

It should be recalled that Minister of State, Secretary General at the presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh had in a letter dated June 30, 2023, written to the Interim Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, Prof Fuh Calistus Gentry of threats by Savannah Energy to shut down the pipeline.

The threat of closure wasn’t taken lightly by authorities of both countries who “in view of the serious consequences that would result from the shutting down of the Chad-Cameroon pipeline and the danger that such an action would pose to COTCO,” opted for a new management team.

Cameroonian authorities, we gathered, have taken “precautionary measures” to ensure the smooth operation of this infrastructure with headquarters in Douala. Meanwhile, Savannah Energy that claims to have acquired 41.06% shares of COTCO formerly held by the American company Exxon Mobil, wants total control of the company. 

They held their own board meeting in Paris, France on May 24, 2023 and appointed Nicolas de Blanpré as CEO. However, with the completion of the Société des hydrocarbures du Tchad, SHT buying of 31% shares of COTCO, formerly held by Malaysia's Petronas, N'Djamena took control of the company with 53.77% of the shares. 

It then organised a general meeting, on the same day and in the same city as Savannah Energy, dismissing all the directors representing Savannah, including Nicolas de Blanpré. The country justified that dismissal by the fact that since Savannah Energy is no longer a member of the consortium operating the Doba field in Chad, adding that it is no longer entitled to hold shares in COTCO under the company’s articles of association. 

While Yaounde and N´Djamena have successfully mended fences by this move taken by the Board of Directors of COTCO, oil business guru, Savannah Energy is still in court laying claims to ownership of COTCO. It is expected that in due cause, Cameroon and Chad will look for a way of appeasing or compensating Savannah Energy, for normalcy to actually return at COTCO.