(Business in Cameroon) - National Hydrocarbons Corporation of Cameroon (SNH) recently issued a call for tenders to recruit a construction program manager for its pipeline project in Bipaga, Southern Cameroon. The said pipeline is aimed at transporting natural gas to the tile production plants of Keda Cameroon Ceramics (Keda), a subsidiary of Chinese group Keda Industrial Group CO., Ltd listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE).

The SNH explains that the program manager will study the two supply options and formulate recommendations for the most appropriate technological concept. It will also elaborate the preliminary and advanced outlines, contractor specifications, and carry out all its duties as manager of the Gas-to-Keda pipeline project.

Submission is open to local and international companies or groups with proven experience in the management of gas transport infrastructures’ construction and installation. As for the offers, they are expected by July 29, 2021.

Currently, Keda Cameroon Ceramics is developing an about 30 hectares site 5-kilometers from the Bipaga gas plant for its tile manufacturing. The daily production of that plant is 50,000 m² daily. For that capacity, the natural gas needs of Keda Cameroon Ceramics is estimated at 3.5 to 6.5 million cubic feet daily (MMSCFD/daily), equivalent to a max of 45 billion cubic feet of gas over 20 years. So, for its supply, the tile manufacturing plant can either be connected to the existing Bipaga-Mpolongwe pipeline or to a new one that will be built connecting it to the Bipaga gas plant.

The prospect of a natural gas supply contract with Keda is good news for SNH, which will thus increase its client portfolio as well as its sales. As of April 30, 2021, the corporation had supplied 111.91 million metric cubes of natural gas to the Kribi thermal power plant for electricity generation. That supply generated XAF121.68 billion of profit for the Cameroonian government.

SNH is the government’s arm in the oil and gas sector. This highly profitable (XAF25.3 billion net profit in 2019) company collects dividends from companies whose shares it owns. It also pays oil royalties to the State (XAF471.5 billion in 2019) and covers some of the government’s expenses (security expenditures notably) known as direct interventions.

In 2019, those direct interventions amounted to XAF183.7 billion, deduced from oil revenues the company had to pay the State.

Sylvain Andzongo