Employees at Exxon Mobil’s oilfield in Doba, Chad, are threatening to continue their strike demanding a guarantee from Exxon that they would be paid benefits in the event of a takeover by Savannah Energy, which operates in Nigeria and Niger.
There has been zero production of crude oil across all the Exxon fields for the last three days, and the workers plan to stand their ground.
The American oil & natural gas company, Exxon, revealed that discussions are on with UK-based Savannah Energy to sell its interests in the project. The latter has proposed to buy 40 per cent of Exxon’s operated interested in Doba and 40 per cent in the Chad-Cameroon oil transportation pipeline. The workers, meanwhile, want to be compensated before Exxon exits the country.
Doba produced about 33,700 barrels of oil per day (bopd) on an average, in 2020. The workers at Doba are worked up because Exxon refuses to guarantee the workers payment of entitled benefits if they are laid off in the event of Savannah taking over the project.
Despite the strike and talks with the help of the government and labour regulators, it seems there was no resolution in the matter. Exxon, however, maintains that active discussions are on with the workers and the government to reach a consensus.
