Doba–Kribi: the economics of a 1,070 km pipe.
Chadian oil has no seaport. To reach the Atlantic, it travels a 1,070-kilometre pipeline across Cameroon. That distance is not just a line on a map: it is a central variable of profitability.
Chad is a landlocked country. Its oil, extracted in the south, must cross a border and nearly a thousand kilometres of land before reaching an offshore terminal near Kribi, Cameroon. That structure — the Doba–Kribi pipeline, roughly 1,070 km — is the single artery through which Chadian crude reaches world markets.
For anyone thinking about the sector’s economics, the pipe raises one simple, decisive question: how much does the journey to the sea cost, per barrel?
1,070 km to the Atlantic
A cross-border pipeline is not just a tube: it is a pumping system, storage, a floating terminal and a transit framework negotiated between states. Every barrel that uses it pays a transit tariff — the price of using the infrastructure and crossing the neighbour’s territory.
That tariff has a direct consequence on the netback: the world price of crude, minus the cost of getting it to market. The more transport costs, the less value remains at the point of production. For a landlocked country, export logistics is not an operational detail: it is a determinant of the rent.
The tariff, profitability’s hidden variable
Two fields with the same technical production cost can show very different returns depending on their access to market. That is why optimising the corridor — fill rates, pooling, load scenarios — is an integral part of the economic equation. An under-used pipe spreads its fixed costs over fewer barrels: every additional barrel that uses it lowers, in theory, the unit cost for everyone.
Modelling that tariff informs investment decisions and public policy. It is one of the working themes of our Advisory division and of the Atlas of the Chadian sector.
When you have no port, the first kilometre of pipeline is as strategic as the first metre of drilling.
The truck before the pipe
The pipeline is not the only answer. For modest volumes, fields far from the route, or for serving the domestic market rather than export, crude trucking offers a flexibility the pipe does not have. It covers the last mile, links an isolated field to a depot or a nearby mini-refinery, and makes it possible to produce and monetise before heavy infrastructure exists.
"The barrel rolls before the pipe": the phrase sums up a sequencing strategy. Starting with the truck frees up cash and serves the country early, while preparing the corridor’s ramp-up. Our Transport & Storage page details this link in the chain.
None of this is acquired yet: EnerTchad is a company in formation, and these approaches are targets. But the conviction is clear — in Chad, mastering export and distribution logistics means mastering a decisive share of oil’s value.