Cameroon’s state-owned National Hydrocarbons Corporation has announced the country’s 2025 oil and gas licensing round, offering up to nine blocks for exploration by willing local and international players.
Energy Capital & Power on Tuesday confirmed that the blocks put on offer cut across three major hydrocarbon-rich areas or basins.
This includes Ndiani River; Bolongo Exploration and Bakassi (in the Rio del Rey Basin); along with Etinde, Bomono, Nkombe-Nsepe, Tilapia, Ntem and Elombo (in the Douala/Kribi-Campo Basin).
Companies interested in these areas will be allowed to consult key data and evaluation beginning September 1, 2025 through March 15, 2026, while the deadline for submission of proposals is slated for March 30, 2026.
The round is exploration and production contracts for the round will be awarded in accordance with the provisions of Cameroon’s Petroleum Code.
However, exploration contracts for fields like Bolongo, Bomono, Etinde, Tilapia, Ntem, and Elombo will be valid for an initial period of three years, with up to two-time renewals of two years each.
Other blocks like Bakassi, Kombe-Nsepe and Ndiani river, exploration licenses will be for a five-year period, also renewable twice with a two-year period each time.
What you should know
Cameroon’s petroleum industry has been facing output declines for years.
In June, Addax Petroleum (a subsidiary of China’s Sinopec) announced plans to resume drilling operations after years of inactivity.
The company signed a $34.4 million contract with Saudi ADES Holding to commence drilling in the Gulf of Guinea, offshore Cameroon.
“Cameroon offers a stable operating environment, which complements our broader regional strategy,” said ADES CEOMohamed Farouk.
Addax is the leading oil operator in Cameroon and controls some significant proven reserves in the country’s Rio del Rey basin.
According to government data, the company invested over $1.2 billion in Cameroon’s upstream sector between 2011 and 2021, aiding the development of a total of 33 drilled and explored wells.
However, the new licensing round is expected to bring other players into Cameroon’s oil market. The results of the exercise will be announced on April 24, 2026.
Cameroon, which received the first petrol export from Nigeria’s Dangote refinery in December 2024, is planning a new refinery in the Kribi Industrial Port Zone.
The modular plant project, when completed in June 2028, is expected to support Cameroon’s only refinery SONARA which has been struggling since a severe fire incident in 2019.
