ExxonMobil to pay record fine in Chad

A court in Chad has ordered ExxonMobil to pay a record $74bn fine, as well as $819mn in royalties – five times the country’s GDP, reports Bloomberg. The High Court in the capital, N’Djamena, announced its ruling on 5 October in response to a complaint from the Finance Ministry that a consortium led by Exxon hadn’t met its tax obligations. Exxon operates a pipeline carrying crude from Chad to a marine terminal in Cameroon for export. The two other companies named in the case are Chevron and Malaysia’s state-owned Petroleiam Nasional Bhd. However, Chevron sold its stake in Chad in 2014.