Africa Oil & Gas Sourcebook 2010: Cameroon

JAMES LONGMORE & JULIAN LEE | JULY 2010 | SOURCE: African Oil & Gas Sourcebook

Cameroon’s oil production peaked in the mid-1980s at 180,000 bpd, but has since fallen, reaching its lowest point in 2003 according to BP. Production gains since this date have been marginal, but the investment of independent oil companies in the country, attracted by its relative stability, has meant it has remained a net exporter of oil.

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In recent years this interest in Cameroon has remained high. In late 2006, US firm Kosmos  Energy signed a production sharing contract for the onshore Ndian River block in the Rio del Rey basin. Addax Petroleum, meanwhile, purchased a controlling stake in the Ngosso permit in 2002, which China’s Sinopec will now oversee, along with partner Tullow Oil, after completing the purchase of the Swiss firm earlier this year. In 2007, Hungary’s MOL bought a 40% stake of the Ngosso permit from Tullow Oil. The two wells drilled so far at the permit have proved to be dry. In addition Switzerland-based oil trader Glencore and Afex Global have also signed a production sharing contract for the Matanda block.

The majority of Cameroon’s hydrocarbons are natural gas and condensate lying in such fields as Sanaga Sud, operated by Perenco, Isongo, the geologically complex Matinda and the Kita field operated by Total. More recent finds include BowLeven’s gas and condensate discovery in the MLPH-7 block in the Etinde permit. Later drilling also proved oil reserves in the block. Cameroon has only one refinery in Limbe operated by the state controlled Societe Nationale de Raffinage (Sonara), with a capacity of 37,000 bpd. The refinery processes mainly Nigeria’s Brass River crude oil and light crude imported from neighbouring Equatorial Guinea. Cameroon’s export blend is Kome, sourced from the Rio del Rey basin. Cargoes are exported to Europe and the US.

The country is connected to Chad’s oil fields via the Chad-Cameroon pipeline, with 85% of the route lying in Cameroon’s territory. The link carries 150,000 bpd of crude from the Doba basin in Chad through to the port terminal in Kribi, where it is loaded onto an offshore floating production storage area.