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Under a production sharing contract with the Chadian government, ERHC will gain exclusive exploration rights on three blocks covering nearly 7 million acres.

The company has previously concentrated on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of West Africa.

ERHC president and CEO Peter Ntephe says the firm wanted to balance its portfolio with projects that carried less risk and were less capital-intensive.

“Chad is a proven producer country, doing about 125,000 barrels of oil a day, and we’ve got some of the big hitters of exploration and production in Africa doing business there.”

Ntephe says the agreement will put ERHC right up against territory previously explored by Exxon Mobil. Exxon and its partners have made discoveries in the region equivalent to more than 1.25 barrels of light sweet crude.