Chad Sacks Two Ministers Over China Refinery Row

Chad's President Idriss Deby sacked two senior ministers after a joint-venture refinery deal with China National Petroleum went sour, according to a presidential decree announced over state radio late on Friday. The oil-producer nation last week said it suspended the refinery accord after the government and CNPC failed to agree on a price of fuel coming out of the 20,000 bpd plant, which has been temporarily closed due to financial losses only months after its inauguration.

The row threatens to cool relations with China at a time China-run firms have earmarked billions of dollars in other infrastructure projects in Chad, including an airport and a railway.

Mahamat Ali Hassa, former minister of planning, will be replaced by Bedouma Kordje, vice-president of the African Development Bank, and Tabe Eugene, ex-oil minister, will be replaced by Brahim Al Khallil, a school director, according to the decree.

"These two people are paying for the crisis between the government and the Chinese company running the refinery of N'Djamena," a senior presidential source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "Their replacements will be in charge of renegotiating the accord."

CNPC owns 60 percent of the refinery, which cost roughly 588 million euros ($771 million) to build, with Chad owning the rest. The plant was inaugurated in June, but has been shut intermittently due to the fuel price row, triggering fuel shortages.

Chad's government sets retail fuel prices, but the refinery's CNPC leadership has said the prices are too low to recoup the cost of crude oil feedstock.