Ambassador to
the United
States--Joseph Bienvenu Charles Foe AtanganaAmbassador to the United Nations--vacant
Cameroon maintains an embassy in the United States at 2349 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 (tel.: 202-265-8790).
Principal U.S. Officials
Ambassador--Janet E.
Garvey Deputy Chief of Mission--Stephen Fox Management
Officer--Charles F. Werderman Public Affairs Officer-- Lonnie
Kelley Political/Economic/Commercial Officer--Scott Ticknor
Defense Attache--Major Matthew Sousa Peace Corps Director--James
Ham Consular Officer--William Swaney
The
U.S. Embassy in
Cameroon has moved from its previous downtown Yaounde location to a New
Embassy Compound adjacent to the golf course at the base of the Mont
Fébé. The new Embassy Chancery contacts are: Tel: (237)
2220 15 00/Fax: (237) 2220 16 20 while the Consular Section can be
reached directly at Tel: (237) 2220 16 03/Fax: (237) 2220 1752. The
mailing address is: B.P. 817, Yaounde, Cameroon.
The
U.S. mailing address is American Embassy Yaounde, Department of State,
Washington, DC 20521-2520.
TRAVEL AND BUSINESS INFORMATION
The Department of State encourages all U.S citizens traveling or residing abroad to register via the State Department's travel registration website or at the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate abroad. Registration will make your presence and whereabouts known in case it is necessary to contact you in an emergency and will enable you to receive up-to-date information on security conditions.
Emergency information concerning Americans traveling abroad may be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S. and Canada or the regular toll line 1-202-501-4444 for callers outside the U.S. and Canada.
Export.gov provides a portal to all export-related assistance and market information offered by the federal government and provides trade leads, free export counseling, help with the export process, and more.
STAT-USA/Internet, a service of the U.S. Department of Commerce, provides authoritative economic, business, and international trade information from the Federal government. The site includes current and historical trade-related releases, international market research, trade opportunities, and country analysis and provides access to the National Trade Data Bank.There are three significant hydrocarbon basins in Cameroon: in the northwest is the offshore Rio del Rey Basin on the Niger Delta; in the southwest is the offshore Douala / Kribi-Campo Basin, and in the north of the country is the Logone Birni Basin. The latest licensing round will be concentrating on the Douala / Kribi-Campo basin and the Logone-Birni Basin.
Douala / Kribi-Campo Basin
The Douala / Kribi-Campo Basin comprises part of the greater West African Margin Basin System and is the northernmost of series of genetically related basins that stretch from Walvis Ridge to Cameroon. The main source rock sequence in the Douala Basin is Lower Cretaceous in age. Turbidites and deep sea fan deposits comprise the Upper and Lower Cretaceous reservoir sequences, although in the latter fluvial and alluvial reservoirs have also been encountered. Shallow water deltaic Tertiary deposits are also potential reservoirs, in the shallow water areas of the basin.
Logone-Birni Basin
The Logone-Birni Basin comprises part of the West and Central African Rift systems. The main source rocks are the oil prone lacustrine deposits in the Lower Cretaceous Aptian-Albian rift fill. The Tertiary, Upper and Lower Cretaceous all have good potential for porous clastic reservoirs. This is based on information from neighbouring Doba, Termit and Doseo basins which contain predominantly coarse clastic sediments. The Lower Cretaceous is likely to have fluvial, lacustrine and deltaic sands, while the Upper Cretaceous is likely to have fluvial, marginal marine, lacustrine and shallow marine sandstones and the Tertiary, fluvial sands.
Oil Exploration and Production
As a result of its maturing oil fields, crude oil production in Cameroon has fallen in recent years to 67,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2003, down from 84,800 bbl/d in 2000. Production is expected to fall to 50,000-60,000 bbl/d by 2005. If no major oil fields are discovered, current major oil fields will be depleted by 2010.
Exploration began in Cameroon in the 1950's, concentrated in the Douala Basin. Until 1965, Elf Aquitaine was the sole concessionaire. Later Mobil, Royal Dutch / Shell and Total also began to explore. With discoveries in Nigeria's Niger Delta area in the late 1960's, focus shifted from the Douala Basin to the Rio del Rey Basin , where in the 1970's a number of discoveries were made: Asoma, Bavo, Betika, Ekoundou, Kole, Kombo and Makoko. Production from the Rio del Rey Basin reached the peak of its production with 158,000 bpd but then started to decrease which then meant that exploration focus returned to the Douala Basin in the 1980's. This resulted in discoveries of condensate and gas: Batanga, Benda, M'Via and N'Koudou.
In the 1990's field development and production began in the Kribi-Campo area with the Ebome field coming on line in 1996. In 1998, Pecten, a Shell subsidiary, received the first loan of a $250 million line of credit from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) a subsidiary of the World Bank to develop oil fields in the Rio Del Rey basin.
Renewed interest in oil investment has led to exploration in all three of Cameroon ’s major petroleum basins. Cameroon has committed to privatization of its state oil company, the National Hydrocarbons Company (SNH). SNH engages in exploration and production in conjunction with several Western oil companies. In December 2002, Tullow Oil and Addax Petroleum Cameroon, Ltd. signed a contract with SNH for exploration in the Ngosso area of the Rio del Rey Basin.
In April 2005 Shell and Total E&P Cameroun were awarded new Production Sharing Contract in the offshore area of Rio del Rey by the Cameroonian Government. Total will operate the contract, in which the two companies have equal shares. The contract area adjoins other concessions operated by Total in Cameroon and covers 143 square kilometers.
In May 2005 EurOil Limited signed a drilling contract with GlobalSantaFe International Drilling Corporation ('GlobalSantaFe') to continue its offshore drilling campaign in Cameroon. EurOil has a 100% interest in the Etinde Permit, which comprises three contiguous blocks offshore Cameroon, subject to government participation, which is still to be negotiated. The agreement covers the drilling of two firm wells in the Etinde Permit. Provisional well locations have been identified, but these will be refined following the final interpretation of the new 3D seismic data acquired over the area.
Organisations (2)
Societé National des Hydrocarbures, Total Cameroon : Facilities (48)
Bavo Asoma Field, Boa Bakassi Field, Chad Cameroon Pipeline, Ebodje Permit - Cameroon, Ebome Marine Permit - Cameroon, Ekoundou Field, KF Field - Cameroon, Kita Edem Field, Kole Export Terminal, Kole Marine Field - Cameroon, Kombe Permit - Cameroon, Kribi Field - Cameroon, Lipenja Field, Lokele II - Cameroon, Lokele III AA - Cameroon, Lokele III BB - Cameroon, Lokele III CC - Cameroon, Lokele III DD - Cameroon, Lokele III EE - Cameroon, MLHP 5 - Cameroon
Participating Organisations Energy Africa Ltd
Energy Africa owns a 40% stake in the Ngosso Area. Addax operates the concession with a 60% interest.
ExxonMobil Corporation has interests in several producing oilfields in offshore Cameroon.
Perenco Through its subsidiary Perenco Cameroon S.A., Perenco has interests in several producing oilfields in Cameroon.
Shell International Ltd Through its subsidiary Pecten Cameroon Ltd, Shell has several interests in producing oilfields in Cameroon.
Societé National des Hydrocarbures SNH is the state controlled oil producer and exploration company.
TOTAL Through it subsidiary, Elf Serepca, TotalFinaElf have interests in several producing oilfields in Cameroon.
CAMEROONS_ LNG_STRATEGY HERE
NATURAL GAS POTENTIAL HERE
