Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) is negotiating with Chad over a record $74 billion fine the U.S. oil company was told to pay by a court in the central African nation over unpaid royalties, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
Exxon has appealed the Oct. 5 court ruling, but the appeals court hearing has been delayed because of the talks, Bloomberg reported, citing a lawyer for Exxon.
Exxon declined to comment.
The court decision fined a consortium led by Exxon over 44 trillion CFA francs ($73.44 billion) - nearly four times BP's Deepwater Horizon settlement and roughly seven times Chad's annual gross domestic product. [nL5N1CC52Q]
The consortium, which includes Malaysian state oil firm Petronas PETRA.UL and Chadian oil company SNT, were found to owe the country nearly 484 billion CFA francs ($808 million) in royalties, according to the court judgment.
It did not explain why the penalty amounted to more than 90 times that amount.
The unpaid royalties stem from a dispute over fees, sources in the Chadian Finance Ministry have told Reuters. The Finance Ministry, they said, is seeking a 2 percent royalty fee from the consortium, a rate the defendants have said is higher than the agreed level.
Petronas and SNT could not immediately be reached for comment.
- Reuters