In 2023, Chad nationalised ExxonMobil’s upstream assets, marking one of the most consequential turning points in the country’s modern petroleum history. The move indicated a decisive shift from multinational-led oil governance to direct state control over production, infrastructure, and revenue flows. At the centre of this transition is Alladoum Désiré Nandogongar, the Director General of Tchad Petroleum Company (TPC) and Chairman of the Board of the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company (COTCO), two institutions that now anchor Chad’s oil economy across both upstream and midstream operations.
Nandogongar’s career trajectory offers a rare longitudinal view of Central Africa’s petroleum industry, spanning over three decades of technical, operational, and governance roles within ExxonMobil-era systems and their post-nationalisation successors. His forthcoming recognition at the African Persons of the Year (POTY) Awards, organised by African Leadership Magazine (ALM), therefore arrives not as a personal milestone alone, but as a reflection point for Africa’s evolving energy sovereignty, infrastructure stewardship, and institutional capacity.
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Alladoum Désiré Nandogongar holds a Master of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering) from the Institut Catholique d’Arts et Métiers (ICAM) in France, completed in 1997. This technical foundation would later underpin his progression through drilling, subsurface engineering, production supervision, and pipeline operations roles that demand precision, safety compliance, and operational continuity in high-risk environments.
His engineering background is significant in a sector where leadership roles in Africa are often politically appointed rather than technically grounded. In Nandogongar’s case, professional legitimacy preceded institutional authority.
Over nearly two decades with Esso Chad and ExxonMobil from 1996 to 2015, Nandogongar held a series of progressively senior roles, including Drilling Engineer, Completion and Workover Engineer, Well Integrity Advisor, Production Engineering Supervisor, and Socio-economic and Safety Advisor, gaining extensive international experience across operations in France, Chad, and the United States.
This period coincided with the development and ramp-up of the Doba Basin, which at its peak produced over 170,000 barrels per day in the early 2000s. His exposure to international operating standards, safety systems, and subsurface management would later prove central to Chad’s post-IOC transition.
Nandogongar later joined Tchad Oil Transportation Company (TOTCO) as Operations Superintendent, gaining direct oversight of pipeline operations within Chad’s segment of the Chad–Cameroon Pipeline Project, a 1,070-kilometre export system critical to the country’s oil revenues.
As Chairman of the Board of Directors of COTCO, Nandogongar occupies a strategic governance role in one of Central Africa’s most consequential energy assets.
Established in August 1997, COTCO S.A. is the company responsible for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the Cameroonian section of the Chad–Cameroon pipeline, tasked with the safe transportation of crude oil primarily from Chadian oilfields, as well as from Cameroonian fields and potential third-party producers.
The pipeline has historically transported over 1 billion barrels of crude oil to international markets via the Atlantic coast, generating billions of dollars in transit fees, export revenues, and fiscal receipts for both states.
As Chairman, Nandogongar’s role is not operational but fiduciary, overseeing governance, cross-border coordination, environmental compliance, and shareholder accountability in a politically sensitive infrastructure corridor.
Following Chad’s nationalisation of ExxonMobil’s upstream assets in the Doba Basin, he was appointed the founding Director General of Tchad Petroleum Company (TPC) in 2023, with a mandate to ensure production continuity, retain technical expertise, manage mature fields, and maintain critical export obligations. As of early 2026, he remains in this leadership role, underscoring his sustained institutional relevance in Chad’s petroleum sector.
At the point of nationalisation, Chad’s oil production had declined to below 130,000 barrels per day, hampered by ageing reservoirs, capital expenditure shortfalls, rising operational costs, and limited international financing, forcing TPC to operate in a structurally more challenging environment than its supermajor predecessor without the same balance sheet strength, global hedging capacity, or deep technical redundancy.
From 2007 to 2010, Nandogongar served as President of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) International’s Chad Section, where his focus on technical training, knowledge exchange, and capacity building for local engineers demonstrated a deep, long-standing commitment to institutional development and human capital growth within Chad’s oil sector, extending beyond short-term project execution.
In February 2026, Nandogongar is set to receive the African Leadership Award for Excellence in Energy & Petroleum Infrastructure at the African Persons of the Year (POTY) Awards, organised by African Leadership Magazine (ALM), now in its 15th edition and often described as Africa’s most prestigious leadership recognition platform.
The award recognises presidents, ministers, CEOs, and policy influencers. ALM’s reach, with over 30 million readers across 35+ countries, lends the event visibility and agenda-setting power.
The award primarily signals formal recognition of the immense institutional responsibility Nandogongar holds, acknowledging his stewardship over newly nationalised petroleum assets and the complex Chad-Cameroon pipeline system during a precarious period of political and fiscal transition. It reflects his role as a key custodian of critical energy infrastructure at a moment of heightened risk, rather than a verdict on the operational or financial success of these entities.
