More than five years after the fire of May 2019 which destroyed part of the installations of the National Refining Company (Sonara), approximately 75% of the damaged equipment can be recovered. This information was made public at the end of November 2025 by the Minister of Water and Energy, Gaston Eloundou Essomba, before the finance committee of the National Assembly, on the occasion of the defense of the 2026 budget of his department.
The minister recalled that Sonara has undertaken two decisive studies for its rehabilitation after the disaster. “Sonara has launched two key studies for its rehabilitation after the disaster: a detailed feasibility study (APS) carried out by the company Axens (contract signed on February 27, 2025 for 42 weeks). It is ongoing and aims to select the final configuration of the refinery and estimate its investment cost (Capex); and a preliminary assessment of the affected facilities carried out by Ekiun Ltd (from July 16 to 23, 2025), and which concludes in its report that approximately 75% of the equipment is recoverable and reusable,” indicated the government member.
The possibility of recovering the majority of equipment from Cameroon’s only crude oil refinery should, in theory, reduce the cost of rehabilitation compared to a full reconstruction. Initially estimated at 250 billion FCFA, the investment necessary to get Sonara back afloat was increased to 300 billion FCFA, an increase of 20%, according to the Prime Minister. On November 26, 2025, during the presentation of the government’s economic, financial, social and cultural program for the 2026 financial year, Joseph Dion Nguté also mentioned, in the 2025 report, “the carrying out of a detailed feasibility study by the French company Axens, with a view to the rehabilitation of Sonara for a total cost of 300 billion FCFA”.
A company heavily in debt
According to the details provided by the Minister of Water and Energy before the Finance Committee, this revised amount of 300 billion FCFA includes both the rehabilitation work of the industrial tool and a restructuring component of this public company. Gaston Eloundou Essomba details: the “plan submitted to the government is based on three axes: recapitalization of the company and search for a partner for financing, rehabilitation of the production tool to its pre-disaster configuration, and implementation of an organization and skills upgrading plan. The financing of the said plan is estimated at 300 billion FCFA…”.
Called the Plan for the acceleration of restructuring and rehabilitation measures for the resumption of refining within 24 months (Parras 24), this system aims to bring the production tool back into service by 2027. However, it must be deployed in a context of massive debt. After the State took over Sonara’s tax debt, i.e. 145.5 billion FCFA, the refinery still owes 261 billion FCFA to the banks. This bank debt has been rescheduled since 2021 over ten years, at a rate of 5.5%. The same conditions were applied to the rescheduling, finalized in 2023, of a debt of 312 billion FCFA at the end of April 2021, claimedby traders at Sonara.
To secure the repayment of these debts, vis-à-vis both banks and traders, the government instituted a levy of 47.8 FCFA on each liter of fuel sold at the pump. The revenue from this levy is confined in an escrow account opened at the Bank of Central African States (BEAC). This mechanism made it possible to mobilize 479 billion FCFA as of October 31, 2025, an increase of 126 billion FCFA year-on-year, according to the official tally. According to Minister Eloundou Essomba, these resources will also serve as a guarantee for Parras 24.
The pronounced interest of financial institutions
This guarantee system seems to reassure investors. In recent months, several financial institutions have shown significant interest in financing the rehabilitation and restructuring of Sonara. On June 17, 2025, a delegation bringing together representatives of the Union of Arab and French Banks (UBAF), the Dutch bank ING and the Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) went to Sonara’s headquarters in Limbe to meet with company officials. Stated objective: “to propel the refinery towards a promising future”, according to official sources.
The BEAC also said it was ready to mobilize its window B, “reserved for the refinancing of medium-term credits intended for productive investment”. “I confirm that this window is intended to finance projects in the productive sector. Moreover, for the case of Sonara, we ourselves took the initiative of approaching the authorities to present to them this instrument which could support the rehabilitation of Sonara,” indicated the Governor of the BEAC, Yvon Sana Bangui, on September 29, 2025, during the closing press conference of the 3rd session of the Monetary Policy Committee (CPM) for the 2025 financial year.
Beyond the results of Sonara, the issues are macroeconomic. The rehabilitation of the refinery is considered strategic for the Cameroonian economy and, beyond that, for the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (Cemac: Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad and CAR). The return to production would make it possible to reduce dependence on imports of finished petroleum products and limit the erosion of foreign currency reserves in the sub-region. According to the community authorities, massive imports of finished petroleum products constitute the main driver of this erosion.
The threat of monetary risk
Due to the lack of an operational refinery, Cameroon imported nearly 1.8 million metric tons (MT) of petroleum products between January and October 2025, according to the government. Of this volume, nearly 1.6 million MT correspond to super, diesel and kerosene, compared to 208,210 MT of domestic gas. These purchases, amounting to several billion FCFA, weaken Cameroon’s foreign currency assets, but also those of other CEMAC countries.
Under the agreements between France and the Cemac States, the community’s foreign exchange reserves are centralized in a single account, the “operations account”, and are used to jointly finance imports of goods and services. Any increased pressure on these assets therefore exposes the entire sub-region tocash flow tensions for payments abroad and can, in the event of prolonged deterioration, lead to a monetary adjustment – notably a devaluation – if the level of reserves crosses a critical threshold.
(Source: Business in Cameroon)
