KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 7): Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) is one of three oil majors that have been slapped with a US$74 billion (RM307.84 billion) fine by the Chadian government for underpaying royalties in the central African nation, according to a Bloomberg report today.

The national oil corporation, wholly owned by the Ministry of Finance Inc, has 35% equity in a project which transports oil from southern Chad to Cameroon through a 1,070km pipeline.

The other partners in the consortium includes Exxon Mobil Corp (with a 40% stake), and Chevron Corp (25%).

According to Bloomberg, the High Court in Chad's capital of N'Djamena announced its ruling on Oct 5 in response to a complaint by the country's finance ministry that the oil consortium had not conformed to its tax obligations.

Exxon Mobil was also ordered to pay US$819 million in overdue royalties, according to a court document.

"We disagree with the Chadian court's ruling and are evaluating next steps," said Exxon Mobil spokesman Todd Spitler, as quoted by the newswire.

"This dispute relates to disagreement over commitments made by the government to the consortium, not the government's ability to impose taxes.

"It's not a realistic thing and it will never be collected," said lawyer Robert Amsterdam in the Bloomberg report.

A lawyer at Amsterdam & Partners LLP, who has represented international corporations and sovereign governments, he said this fine was more about signalling that a renegotiation is in order instead of something that should trouble the consortium's shareholders in any way.

This is not the first time Petronas has been in a dispute with the Chadian government.

In 2006, President Idriss Deby gave Chevron and Petronas 24 hours to leave the country after accusing them of not having paid taxes. They denied the allegations and the case was later settled.

This time around, Chad's finance minister Ngabo Seli Mbogo said the court's ruling was clear and didn't want to comment further.