RIASSUNTO
Abstract
Over its 25-30 year life, the $3.5 billion Chad Export Project will produce ~1 billion barrels of crude oil from three Chadian oilfields for export to world markets. Oilfield area facilities encompass ~250 wells, produced fluids separation and processing units, and supporting infrastructure including a 120 MW power plant. The Project's export system includes a 1070 kilometer onshore pipeline traversing the southern part of Chad and much of neighboring Cameroon, three pump stations and a near shore pressure reducing station, a 12 kilometer subsea pipeline, and an offshore marine terminal (Floating Storage and Offloading vessel). Major construction was preceded by the Project's upgrading of significant portions of the transportation infrastructure in north central Cameroon and southern Chad. The participation of the Republics of Chad and Cameroon in the Project as equity partners in the export system was made possible by loans furnished by the World Bank. During the Project's six-year planning period, extensive integrated engineering, environmental, socioeconomic, and health studies were undertaken, with a special emphasis on issues/impacts identification and avoidance, alternatives analyses, and site selection/optimization. The development of the Project's Environmental Assessments and twenty volume Environmental Management Plan (EMP) featured a high degree of transparency and embodied extensive public consultation. An assortment of systems and processes were developed and implemented to ensure that the Project was constructed in a manner that featured a high level of compliance with EMP-related obligations and requirements. EMP implementation, performance, and compliance results have been made widely available to global civil society via the posting of Project-related reports and other information on the Internet.
Project Description and Background Information
The $US 3.5 billion Chad Export Project (the Project) is currently the largest private sector investment in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the Project's anticipated 25-30 year life, approximately one billion barrels of crude oil will be produced from three oilfields in the Doba basin region of southern Chad for export to world markets, with peak production being 225,000 barrels per day.
A map providing some geographic context for the Project is provided in Figure 1.
Historical and Socioeconomic Background
The Republic of Chad, with a population of approximately 9 million, is a landlocked African country, bordered by Libya to the north, Cameroon and the Central African Republic to the south, Sudan to the east, and Niger and Nigeria to the west. Much of Chad is characterized by a challenging (arid) Saharan or Sahelian climate. It is one of the poorest countries in the world, with just 450 kilometers of paved roads, an average per capita income of less than $US 200 per year, an average infant mortality rate of 96 deaths per 1000 live births, and an average life expectancy of 48.5 years. The vast majority of Chadians live a subsistence agricultural lifestyle in small pre-industrial villages. Cotton is the only significant export of Chad.
The Republic of Cameroon, a west central African country of 16 million to the southwest of Chad, is also a poor country. However, its economy is much larger and more extensive versus Chad, buoyed by petroleum resources, shipping, timber, and a diverse climate that allows for the production of high value agricultural commodities such as cocoa, coffee, bananas, rubber, and palm oil. Like Chad, the majority of Cameroonians live a subsistence agriculture-based lifestyle.
Crude oil was first discovered in Chad in the mid-1970s. Various seismic and exploration drilling campaigns were conducted in the 1980s and early 1990s to define the nature and extent of the reserves. A protracted post-independence civil war and a volatile political climate hindered exploitation of the discovered hydrocarbon resources.