Cameroon’s national oil company, Société National des Hydrocarbures (SNH) has completed discussions on a production sharing contract (PSC) deal with London-based Octavia Energy covering the Bolongo exploration block in the country’s Rio del Rey basin.
Octavia Energy is an international oil and gas exploration company headquartered in London, the United Kingdom operating globally with regional subsidiary offices and operations spanning North Africa, Central Africa, the Middle East (including Egypt and Yemen), and Cameroon.
The agreement followed two days of talks at SNH’s headquarters in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital.
According to SNH, the contract will be submitted for official signature in the coming days.
According to media reports in Cameroon monitored by Business A.M., Octavia Energy was selected in March through an international licensing process launched by SNH for nine available oil and gas blocks.
The Bolongo is one of Cameroon’s five blocks retained for contract negotiations, while four others in the country’s Douala/Kribi-Campo Basin were awarded to Murphy West Africa Limited.
Bolongo block lies in the Rio del Rey basin, Cameroon’s main oil-producing area and part of the eastern extension of the Niger Delta petroleum system.
Octavia Energy says the acreage benefits from existing oil infrastructure and extensive seismic data.
The signing of the contract would allow the company to move toward exploration activities on the block.
Despite remaining one of Central African region’s largest crude producer, Cameroon has struggled for several decades with declining output, shrinking investor traffic, delayed project approvals, ageing infrastructure and policy uncertainty.
The country’s economy currently faces a mixed impact from global oil and gas disruptions from the U.S.-Israel-Iran war.
While high international oil prices offer a potential boost to state export revenues, the country remains a net importer of refined fuel (mainly from Nigeria’s Dangote refinery) due to the inactivity of the country’s sole refinery, SONARA.
This dynamic drives up import costs, strains public subsidies, and fuels domestic inflation.
Since 2019, the SONARA (Société Nationale de Raffinage) located in Limbe in the country’s South West Region, has been shut following a devastating fire incident that ravaged the facility, forcing an abrupt closure of entire operations.
In January this year, SONARA board officials were at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos, Nigeria, for negotiations to woo the giant refinery for technical and financial support to revive the SONARA plant.
Besides, Cameroon has been importing its petroleum products from the African largest refinery to try to shore up steadily rising domestic demand.
In addition to the economic strain, President Paul Biya’s long absence from the country since June 7, has created political uncertainties, with perceived leadership vacuum and tension over the health status of the world’s oldest president. At 93, Biya’s current 8th tenure, which he won in very controversial circumstances in October 2025, will keep him on seat until he turns 99 years, barely a year shy of a century.
