Chinese-led consortium signs Cameroon oil-exploration deal

A Sino-Cameroonian consortium comprised of Orion Energy Holding Inc. and Heta Oil & Gas Ltd. signed a five-year contract with the Cameroon government-owned National Hydrocarbons Corp. for the exploration of a 2,530 square-kilometer field southwest of the country, an SNH executive said Friday.

The deal was reached for the consortium by its Vice President Weidong Zhang and for Cameroon by SNH Executive General Manager Adolphe Moudiki, under the auspices of Cameroon's Minister of Mines, Industries and Technological Development Emmanuel Bonde.

The agreement authorizes the consortium to invest $75 million on the Ndian River II block for a five-year period, the exploration phase of the contract. Orion Energy is a Beijing-based oil and gas firm, which owns 90% of the Cameroon-based Heta Oil.