The Cameroon Export Transportation System (“ETS”) comprises the Cameroon export pipeline, the Kome Kribi 1 floating storage and offloading unit (“FSO”) and related infrastructure. The Cameroon ETS, combined with the export pipeline in Chad, is the only international export route for oil production in Chad, which is used by the Doba Consortium and other third-party shippers including CNPC, Perenco and OPIC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CPC Corporation and Taiwan.
The Cameroon pipeline has a diameter of 30” and a total length of 903 km with a nameplate capacity of 250,000 bopd which can transport relatively heavy crude. It includes two pumping stations, a small pressure reduction station, as well as three maintenance areas and is equipped with a leak detection system. The pumping stations are located at 215 km and 880 km along the pipeline.
Construction of the pipeline, which is buried below the ground, started in 2000 and was completed in 2003, a year ahead of schedule. The total cost of the pipeline project was US$2.2 billion and several US and European Export/Import Credit agencies and the World Bank supported the construction and implementation of this major infrastructure project.
The Kome Kribi 1 is the offshore moored FSO vessel and is part of the ETS infrastructure. The FSO is a converted crude tanker with a nameplate storage capacity of 2.5 MMbbl and is connected to a single-point mooring system. The Kome Kribi 1 FSO is able to accommodate tandem-berthed export tankers up to 320,000 tonnes deadweight.
Asset details
- Pipeline has a capacity of 250 Kbopd and the FSO has a capacity of c. 2.2 MMstb, located 10km offshore Cameroon
- The estimated pipeline throughput in 2022 was 124 Kbopd, c. 80% of which was from third-party shippers
- During Q1 2023 COTCo transported an average of 128.8 Kbopd of crude oil with a total of 11 liftings conducted on behalf of its customers.
- Pipeline tariff is not related to the oil price
- Spare capacity of at least 100 Kbopd in this export route
Bini a Warak Hydroelectric Project
On 20 April 2023, Savannah announced the singing of an agreement for the development of the Bini a Warak Hydroelectric Project (the “Bini Project”) located in the northern Adamawa Region of Cameroon.
A signing ceremony was held in Yaounde, attended by His Excellency Gaston Eloundou Essomba, Minister of Water and Energy for the Republic of Cameroon, His Excellency Dr Christian Dennys-McClure, British High Commissioner to the Republic of Cameroon and Andrew Knott, Chief Executive Officer of Savannah.
The 75 MW Bini Project is expected to provide clean, stable and affordable power to Cameroon’s northern region. This is anticipated to support both existing local electricity demand and enable a number of energy-intensive industrial projects, principally in the cement and metallurgy industries, within the region. The Bini Project is expected to increase current on-grid electricity generation capacity in northern Cameroon by over 50%. There is also the potential for power to be dispatched into Cameroon’s southern electricity grid, upon completion of the interconnection, financed by the World Bank, of the northern and southern electricity networks currently planned by the Government for 2026.
The Bini Project involves the construction of a dam on the Bini River, together with an 82km2 reservoir and associated tunnels, powerhouses, substations and a 225 Kilovolt transmission line connecting the Bini Project to Cameroon’s northern electricity grid. It is intended to be developed on an independent power project basis with project sanction expected in 2024 and first power targeted in the 2027 to 2028 window.
1 Cameroon Oil Transportation Company, incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Cameroon, with registered company number M089700006137L, whose registered office is at 164 Rue Toyota, Bonapriso, Douala, Cameroon