The Republic of Niger has reached an agreement with Cameroon to henceforth transport its crude oil through the country. Cameroon's Minister of Mines, Industries and Technological Development, Emmanuel Bonde, and Niger's Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Foumakoye Gado, signed a bilateral agreement to that effect at the head office of the National Hydrocarbons Corporation (SNH) yesterday October 30, 2013. This was in the presence of Cameroon's Minister of External Relations, Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo, the Executive General Manager of SNH and Chairman of the Pipeline Steering and Monitoring Committee, Adolphe Moudiki, and the Ambassador of the Republic of Niger to Cameroon with residence in Abuja, Mansour Maman Hadj Dado.
The agreement lays down the conditions for the transit, through Cameroon, of hydrocarbons produced in Niger and their transportation down to the Atlantic coast of Cameroon through the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline. According to a news release signed by Adolphe Moudiki, the negotiations that led to yesterday's bilateral agreement were instructed by the Head of State, Paul Biya, pursuant to Law No 96/14 of August 5, 1996 governing the transportation by pipeline of hydrocarbons from other countries.
The negotiations, the release specifies, were conducted for Cameroon by an ad hoc commission created by the Executive General Manager of SNH, comprising experts from SNH and Ministries in charge of External Relations, Mines, Industries and Technological Development, Water and Energy Resources, Finance, Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Trade and Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development. Meanwhile for Niger, it was conducted by a delegation headed by the Minister of Energy and Petroleum, comprising experts from the Presidency of the Republic, the Ministries of Energy and Petroleum as well as that of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and African Integration.
In separate speeches, the two Ministers lauded cooperation ties existing between Cameroon and Niger. They noted that the cordial bilateral ties will be further strengthened by the activity of oil transportation, fruit of yesterday's agreement. Minister Bonde said the bilateral agreement is coming at a time Cameroon is attracting diverse investors into its mining sector, through the development of giant projects notably in the gas sector within the framework of the Head of State's Greater Accomplishment programme.
On the choice of Cameroon, Minister Foumakoye Gado said it was for economic reasons. "Niger's hydrocarbons production is not very significant (about 60,000 barrels/day) and to valorise it, there was need to choose a shorter course that would entail less investment. And with the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline, we would need to construct a pipeline of about 600 km to link with the existing Chad-Cameroon Pipeline. Reason why we took the option, Niger-Chad-Cameroon," he said.
