(Business in Cameroon) - In Cameroon, SCDP was authorized to increase its ROW fee from XAF1.6 to XAF2 per liter. This was revealed by Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Minister of State and Secretary-General of the Presidency of the Republic, in a note sent to Magloire Séraphin Fouda, Secretary-General of the Prime Ministry, on March 25, 2020.

This revaluation of the ROW fee falls in line with the state-owned company’s wish. Indeed, according to CTR, the Technical Committee for Rehabilitation of Public and Para Public Sector Enterprises, the company suggested increasing the fee to raise funds necessary for new investments and the construction of an additional 55,000 m³  storage capacity for white products and 2,500 MT for LPG by 2031.

But, the CTR explained that funding such investments by structuring them on the price of oil products would increase the country’s budgetary risk since it will force further petroleum products subsidy.

It then suggested the government should fund the construction of those storage capacities with the public investment. That way, it indicated, SCDP will no more have to pay demurrage charges to vessels that are unable to unload their shipments due to the unavailability of storage capacity at the oil company. The government seems to have gone against that option.

For the time being, SCDP’s storage capacity is not compliant with the regulation, according to CTR. To date, the technical committee informs, SCDP's safety stocks are 110,000 m3 (i.e. 20 days of autonomy instead of the regulatory 30 days) while the running stock is 55,000 m3 (i.e. 10 days of autonomy instead of the regulatory 15 days).

Sylvain Andzongo