Assouyouti Mahamat became Chairman of the Board of Directors of COTCO — the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company that operates the Chad-Cameroon export pipeline — following his appointment on 11 May 2026 as Chief Executive Officer of the Chad Petroleum Company (TPC). The COTCO chairmanship transferred to him automatically under the governance structure that ties the TPC chief executive to the COTCO board seat, replacing outgoing chairman Alladoum Désiré Nandongar.
Mahamat brings a finance-heavy profile to the role. Trained as a financial engineer, he previously served as Minister for the Economy of Chad, giving him direct experience navigating sovereign budgets, fiscal negotiations, and state-owned enterprise governance. His appointment reflects a broader pattern in Chad's upstream and midstream sector of placing technocrats with macroeconomic credentials into leadership positions that bridge state petroleum interests and commercial pipeline operations.
COTCO is the operating entity responsible for the approximately 1,070-kilometre pipeline system that carries crude from landlocked Chad's Doba basin to the Cameroonian port of Kribi for export. The infrastructure remains a critical artery for Chad's oil revenues and for the export economics of any upstream development in the broader Lake Chad basin region. Leadership continuity at COTCO and TPC directly affects commercial terms, operational decisions, and the regulatory environment that international partners and service providers must navigate.
For companies active along the Chad-Cameroon corridor, a leadership transition at this level typically signals a period of relationship reset with the new chairman's office, potential review of existing service and operational frameworks, and an opportunity to position ahead of any strategic priorities Mahamat may introduce. His economy ministry background suggests a heightened focus on cost discipline, local content compliance, and revenue optimisation — areas where international contractors are routinely scrutinised during incoming leadership reviews.