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Oil output in Chad unhurt by rebel blitz

N'DJAMENA - Chad's 140000 to 160000 barrels per day (bpd) oil output was not affected by a rebel attack on the capital a week ago, but the violence disrupted prospecting and plans for a new refinery, Oil Minister Emmanuel Nadingar said yesterday.

N'DJAMENA - Chad's 140000 to 160000 barrels per day (bpd) oil output was not affected by a rebel attack on the capital a week ago, but the violence disrupted prospecting and plans for a new refinery, Oil Minister Emmanuel Nadingar said yesterday.

"Production has continued as normal," Nadingar said amid burnt papers and broken furniture at his ministry building.

The building which was looted following the assault on the capital N'Djamena by eastern rebels at the beginning of this month.

Prospecting in the Bongor Basin, southeast of N'Djamena, has been disrupted since expatriate workers fled the two days of heavy fighting in the city, Nadingar said.

"Most of their personnel are based here in N'Djamena . they were evacuated," he said.

Dozens of Chinese expatriate oil workers have been living at a game lodge in Waza National Park across the border in neighbouring Cameroon since the violence.

Prospecting operations by Taiwan's OPIC have continued near Chad's only existing production facilities in the Doba field in the south of the country, which was unaffected by the week-long rebel advance across the country.

However, plans to start work on a new 60000 bpd refinery were likely to be delayed. - Reuters

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