The government of Cameroon has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the American firm, International Refinery Consultants (IRC), for the latter to construct an oil and gas refinery in the coastal town of Kribi, South Region. The agreement signed last Thursday October 4 between the Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Dr Basile Atangana Kouna, and the President, CEO, of IRC, Michael Eppler, permits the American firm to carry out extensive studies for the construction of a modern high capacity oil refinery, code-named, "Cameroon Atlantic Refinery Project." The refinery, stakeholders said, will initially process at least 200,000 barrels per day, to be followed in due course by negotiations for a second train which will provide for a total capacity of 350,000 barrels per day.

According to the project's factsheet, it will generate up to 5,000 jobs for the construction phase and 1,400 for the initial operational phase and is expected to increase as the project progresses. Records show that the hope-raising project will be financed by the Texas specialist firm, IRC, in collaboration with a second Texas firm, Refinery Technology, Inc. along with their financial partners and under a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) agreement. The overall cost was not however disclosed as studies are still on course. It will also provide for housing estates, a hospital, schools, an orphanage, recreational facilities and a training centre for local engineers and technical personnel among others.

Minister Atangana Kouna said during the event that although Cameroon has an oil refinery, SONARA, built in 1981 and which today produces about 2.2 million tons of oil per year, and which has a project to step up its production capacity to about 3.5 million tons per year, having another refinery will, "reinforce Cameroon's independence as far as petroleum products and gas is concerned." During technical shutdowns for maintenance purposes at SONARA, the Minister noted, "we find ourselves in a position where we have to import petroleum products sometimes from very far in Europe with all the consequences (financial and quality constrains) you can imagine. Although this new refinery will be essentially an export-oriented refinery, it will be submitted to the obligation of satisfying our internal supply at anytime the need arises."

IRC said the project can be fully executed and operational in 30 months as from the BOOT agreement signing, the allocation of approximately 500 hectares of land from the government of Cameroon and the issuing of the pertinent permits and authorisations. It has been designed for immediate implementation and the site, it is said, does not necessarily require any initial local infrastructure.