Minister of Petroleum Mahamat Nasser Hassane of Chad

become part of an existing production consortium led by US.

so the state, through SHT, could become a production partner.

after Deby's government ended its relations with Taiwan.

and other investment projects bear fruit.

Hassane said a consortium headed by US oil major ExxonMobil, which operates a 250,000 bpd capacity pipeline carrying crude from landlocked Chad to the Cameroon coast, was developing and exploring several new concessions in the Doba, Doseo and Lake Chad basins.

Most recently Hassane said Chad had signed an exploration and development deal in January with Taiwan’s state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp.

Last week, Chad's then Oil Minister Mahamat Nasser Hassane said in an interview with Reuters that SHT " will be a commercial, but completely state-run business.

could become a production partner in the Doba pipeline.

But Hassane said he could not envisage the consortium refusing the proposal.