Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, and Paul Biya, President of the Republic of Cameroon, have signed a bilateral treaty to see the two West African countries cooperate on cross-border oil and gas development and monetization.
The agreement was signed during the heads of state summit of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) countries held in Cameroon.
The African Energy Chamber (AEC) said Monday 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."
"As such, the AEC urges the Governments of Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon to move fast, leveraging the treaty to fast-track field development, address fiscal challenges and bring new supplies to the regional market," AEC said.
AFC said that the agreement between the two countries paved the way for the joint development and monetization of cross-border hydrocarbon fields, and more specifically, the Chevron-operated Yoyo (Cameroon) and Yolanda (Equatorial Guinea) oil and gas fields, which are located along the maritime borders of the two countries.
Following Chevron’s acquisition of Noble Energy in 2020, the energy major has been committed to developing the promising fields, seeking to acquire a gas-sharing agreement for the Yoyo and Yolanda discoveries with the aim of fast-tracking resource development, AEC said.
According to AEC, the bilateral agreement is set to not only aid in the field’s development, with the two states now set to progress to the Unitization Agreement of the Yolo-Yolanda field and the various monetization options, but in the development and launching of various other fields, notably, the development of Cameroon’s Etinde gas field – operated by New Age – and Equatorial Guinea’s Camen and Diega fields are also set to be incorporated in the treaty.