Infos Business of Tuesday, 27 January 2015

Source: Investir au Cameroun

Camgaz reacts to fierce competition on gas market

Cameroonian society of liquefied petroleum, known as Camgaz, completed in June 2014 a substantial increase of its share capital, which increased from 10 to 500 million Cfa francs, an increase of 490 million francs Cfa, revealed a legal advertisement 26 January 2015.

This increase in capital is made by incorporation of the revaluation variance (381.3 million CFA francs), on the one hand, and the deferral account again (108.6 million CFA francs), on the other hand.

This operation of the capital increase, which opens with significant margins of manoeuvre investment at number 2 the distribution of domestic gas market in Cameroon (15.5% market share behind MCTS with almost 50%), appears as a reaction to the increasingly fierce competition in this sector. Indeed, the gas market has undergone significant mutations in Cameroon in 2013, with the arrival in the area of the Tradex operator.

The market shares of the new operator evolved, probably because of its new bottles (70% of the used bottles in Cameroon are old and expose consumers to explosions, according to a survey by the Ministry of Commerce), with consumption controller built-in. Libya Oil, another operator of the sector, conducted the same year in a renewal of its fleet of bottles, while MRS. could win new market share by expanding its distribution network.

The above mentioned capital increase will induce significant investments, with aim to allow number 2 of the national market of household gas of not losing ground in an industry increasingly more competitive, and which holds countless opportunities with projects underway in the areas of production (project Perenco-SNH).