• Sonara board approved a revised budget of CFA291.9 billion for Parras 24
• The amount is about CFA8 billion lower than the CFA300 billion announced in November
• Technical audits found most damaged equipment can be reused

Cameroon’s Acceleration Plan for Restructuring and Rehabilitation Measures to Resume Refining Within 24 Months (Parras 24) has seen its budget slightly revised downward. While the project was initially estimated at CFA300 billion, the board of directors of the National Refining Company (Sonara) approved a budget of CFA291.9 billion (about $519 million), down around CFA8 billion from the amount previously announced by the government. The decision was validated during the 140th board meeting held on December 23, 2025, in Yaoundé, under the chairmanship of Dr. Ndoh Bertha.

The CFA300 billion estimate had been made public by Prime Minister Joseph Dion Nguté on November 26, 2025, during the presentation to the National Assembly of the government’s economic, financial, social, and cultural program for FY2026. Based on a detailed feasibility study carried out by French company Axens, this figure already represented a sharp increase from the CFA250 billion initially mentioned by the authorities, without detailed explanations at the time for the nearly 20% rise.

The current cost of Parras 24 nonetheless remains well above the first estimates made between 2020 and 2021, which ranged from CFA111 billion to CFA278 billion. The difference is attributed to several factors, including price updates over more than five years, an expanded scope of work—covering the rehabilitation of units 15, 255, and 225, upgrades to certain storage tanks—and the implementation of an electricity supply strategy. This strategy is presented as essential to completing the first phase of the “Sonara 2010” modernization project, which was underway at the time of the 2019 fire.

More favorable technical assessments

The downward revision may be explained by the results of technical diagnostics carried out on the facilities and disclosed by the company. These show that at least 75% of the equipment in the damaged area can be reused, 8% must be dismantled or scrapped, and 17% could potentially be recovered subject to detailed technical inspections. Equipment in non-damaged areas is generally considered to be in acceptable condition. These findings likely helped optimize the scope of work and adjust costs.

Six years after the fire that shut down the country’s only refinery, the Cameroonian government has set a recovery path for Sonara, targeting a doubling of capacity from 3.5 million to 7 million tons of crude oil per year. The first phase, scheduled from January 2026 to December 2027, is the core of the Parras 24 plan and aims to restore the refinery to its operational configuration as of May 2019. An audit conducted by Ekium concludes that a significant share of the damaged equipment remains recoverable.

Amina Malloum, Business in Cameroon