President Biya hailed as wiseman of Africa for signing strategic deal with Equatorial Guinea.

The praises galore follows the historic signing, with his Equatoguinean counterpart, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, of a strategic cooperation agreement for the exploitation of cross-border oil and gas fields.

The signing ceremony took place at the Unity Palace on Friday March 20.

It was shortly after the closing ceremony of the 15th session of CEMAC Heads of State Summit President Biya hosted at the Unity Palace.

The important partnership has been hailed as an exemplary illustration of the solidarity that is aimed at strengthening sub-regional integration, which was a key message at the CEMAC Heads of State Summit.

South African-based energy advocacy group, African Energy Chamber, AEC, reacting on the bilateral treaty said, it was confident that the agreement would unlock "a new era of cooperation, with the agreement serving as a blueprint for other African countries looking at strengthening knowledge sharing, skills and technology transfer, infrastructure development and local content, all on the back of cross-border oil and gas maximization".

The AEC urged the governments of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea “to move fast, leveraging the treaty to fast-track field development, address fiscal challenges and bring new supplies to the regional market".

The agreement between the two countries has also been described by experts as paving the way for the joint development and monetisation of cross-border hydrocarbon fields.

 More specifically, experts have been citing the Chevron-operated Yoyo oil and gas fields in Cameroon and Yolanda oil and gas fields in Equatorial Guinea, which are located along the maritime borders of the two countries.

Experts have also opined that the bilateral agreement is set to not only aid in the field’s development, with the two states now set to progress to the Unitisation Agreement of the Yolo-Yolanda field and the various monetisation options. The deal will also see the development and launching of various other fields.

Notably, there is the development of Cameroon’s Etinde gas field-operated by New Age and Equatorial Guinea’s Camen and Diega fields also set to be incorporated in the treaty.

The deal in a nutshell

The strategic bilateral agreement was signed after the closing of the CEMAC Heads of State Summit in the evening of March 17.

President Biya was accompanied to the historic signing ceremony by the Minister of State, Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh; the Director of Civil Cabinet at Presidency of the Republic, Samuel Ayolo Mvondo, the Minister of External Relations, Lejeune Mbella Mbella and the Interim Minister of Mines, lndustries and Technological Development, Prof Fuh Calistus Gentry.

The content of the deal titled: "Bilateral agreement between Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea for cooperation in the exploitation of cross-border oil and gas fields" was not disclosed. 

However, the agreement aims to define the legal and regulatory framework for the exploitation of energy sources at the border between the two neighbouring countries. The deal permits both nations to jointly exploit oil and gas resources.

Aside the strategic nature of the deal for the economy of both nations, the agreement is being described as a model in terms of cooperation and sub-regional integration for Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea in terms of investment and economic development.

Both countries, it should be said, are already engaged in various sub-regional integration projects including that to build a bridge over the Ntem River that separates the two countries.

The said initiative, which is part of CEMAC's Transport and Trade Facilitation Program, was approved at a roundtable meeting held in Paris, France, in November 2020.

The Paris meeting sought to get funding for eleven transport and energy infrastructure integration projects for the sub-region’s six member countries to span 2021 and 2025 in the sub-region.

Deal fruits friendly ties between both nations

Though relations between Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea were strained in recent years in the area of border security, such misunderstandings were resolved with the signing of the Sipopo Agreement in July 2020.

Both friendly nations maintain privileged relations. Such friendship ties was demonstrated by Cameroon shortly after the misunderstanding with Equatorial Guinea when a series of explosions occurred March 7, 2021, in the military camp of Nkoa Ntoma, located in Bata. Bata is the economic capital of Equatorial Guinea. The explosion had caused more than one hundred deaths and numerous enormous material damage.

President Paul Biya during the period dispatched a humanitarian mission led by the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo, and the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, to Equatorial Guinea.

The delegation that also included some sixty personnel from the military health service, the national firefighting unit, and the military engineers, carried a large shipment of medicines, foodstuffs and other supplies to assist Equatorial Guinea.