• Cameroon raises Sonara refinery rehab estimate to 300 billion CFA after new study

• Lenders, including BEAC’s Window B facility, signal interest in financing the project

• Refinery shutdown since 2019 fire forces costly fuel imports, straining regional reserves

Cameroon’s sole oil refinery will require 300 billion CFA francs ($533 million) for rehabilitation, according to a new feasibility study, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said on Wednesday.  The estimate is 20 percent higher than the government’s initial projection.

Dion Ngute presented the estimate, based on a detailed assessment by French firm Axens, to the National Assembly on Nov. 26, 2025, during the presentation of the government’s 2026 economic program. The new cost for rehabilitating the state-owned National Refining Company (Sonara) is 50 billion CFA francs higher than the earlier estimate of 250 billion CFA francs.

Ngute did not give a reason for the higher estimate. Several financial institutions have already expressed interest in financing the refinery’s rehabilitation. On June 17, 2025, a delegation from the Union of Arab and French Banks (UBAF), Dutch bank ING and Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) visited Limbé to discuss the project with company officials, with the aim of "propelling the refinery towards a promising future," according to officials.

The Bank of Central African States (BEAC) has also indicated its readiness to activate its Window B facility, which refinances medium-term credit for productive-sector investment, in order to support the refinery’s rehabilitation. "I confirm that this window is intended to finance projects in the productive sector. For the case of Sonara, we took the initiative to approach the authorities to present this instrument, which could support its rehabilitation," BEAC Governor Yvon Sana Bangui said on Sept. 29, 2025, during a press briefing following a meeting of the BEAC Monetary Policy Committee.

For several months, central bank officials from the CEMAC region, which includes Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad and the Central African Republic, have been engaging Cameroonian authorities to propose covering 60 percent of the rehabilitation cost through Window B. That proposal was based on the earlier estimate of 250 billion CFA francs.

Since a fire in May 2019 destroyed much of Sonara’s equipment, Cameroon has relied entirely on imports for petroleum products. These imports have weighed on the region’s foreign exchange reserves, putting pressure on the ability of countries to finance their import needs.

"I urge that Sonara be restored quickly in Cameroon. Today, all countries in the region are importing finished petroleum products, and this weakens our external position," Sana Bangui said on June 24, 2024, in Yaoundé during a meeting of the BEAC Monetary Policy Committee.

BRM, Business in Cameroon