Energy in Cameroon - Oil

Oil

Cameroon began off shore oil production in 1977. Annual production has gradually fallen since 1985, and the decline is expected to continue as existing reserves are depleted. Output amounted to 76,600 barrels per day (12,180 m3/d) in 2001, down from 100,000 barrels per day (16,000 m3/d) in 1999. However, Cameroon is sub-Saharan Africa's sixth-largest crude oil producer, with output in 2003 at 67,000 barrels per day (10,700 m3/d), and estimated reserves at 400 million barrels (64×10^6 m3) as of January 1, 2004, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Field development and production began in the Kribi-Campo basin in the mid-1990s, and the Ebome field came online in 1996. As of 2002, the major operators were ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, and Total S.A. The oil sector is managed by the national oil company Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures.

Work was under way on development of the Doba basin oil fields and construction of a pipeline between Cameroon and Chad, with the aid of a US$93 million loan from the World Bank. Production was expected to have begun in early 2004. In October 2002, Cameroon and Nigeria, both of whom claimed the potentially oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula, received a ruling on the dispute from the International Court of Justice, which granted the peninsula to Cameroon. Cameroon's petroleum consumption in 2001 was 22,000 barrels per day (3,500 m3/d).