Cameroon reaps big from Chad oil transit fees

Chad’s crude oil transit duty payment to Cameroon generated duties in the region of CFA 17.53 billion accounting for 27.56 million barrels as of 31 October 2014.

This is found to be higher than the CFA 5 84 billion related to 24.65 million barrels in the same period in 2013, according to a memo published on Tuesday by the Pipeline Steering and Monitoring Committee.

This exponential increase in revenue follows the boost in transit duties recorded on 29 October 2013 which increased royalty from CFA 195 to CFA 618 a barrel of crude.

Thus, in more than ten years, the Cameroonian Treasury has earned CFA 217.53 billion income from Chad’s oil transit duty.

Stretching to some 1070 kilometers, the Chad-Cameroon pipeline starts from the Doba oil fields, crossing Cameroon territory for nearly 890 kilometers of its northeastern border with Chad to the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

Two companies, one Cameroonian (COTCO), the other Chadian (Chad Oil Transportation Company, TOTCO) which constitute the Steering and Monitoring Committee, are respective owners of sections located on both sides of the border whose construction, operation and maintenance they handle.