BRIEF INFO

OIL & GAS

Decree No. 2023/232, laying down the conditions of implementation of Law No. 2019/008 of April 25, 2019 on the Petroleum Code

May 15, 2023

On May 4, 2023, Decree No. 2023/232, laying down the conditions of implementation of Law No. 2019/008 of April 25, 2019 on the Petroleum Code was published under the emergency procedure (hereinafter, the “Implementation Decree”).

The Implementation Decree has been promulgated in accordance with Article 137 of the Law No. 2019/008 of April 25, 2019 on the Petroleum Code (hereinafter, the “Petroleum Code”) which provides indeed that its conditions of implementation will be set by regulation.

Thus, four (04) years after the entry into force of the Petroleum Code, its long-awaited Implementation Decree comes in to repeal all the provisions of the previous Decree No. 2000/465/PM of June 30, 2000 setting the conditions of implementation of Law No. 99/013 of December 22, 1999 on the Petroleum Code. This previous decree, which remained in force, seemed anachronistic and outdated in respect to the present Petroleum Code.

It is necessary to precise that the Petroleum Code was adopted in a context of reform aimed at rebalancing the interests of investors and the State of Cameroon, and this applies as well for the adoption of its Implementation Decree.

The Implementation Decree brings forth various precisions relating to oil contracts, in particular on the regime governing their transmission, waiver, withdrawal of co-ownership, the price of hydrocarbons, dispute resolution and local content. Clarifications are also made in respect to the legal regime of authorizations and to investment incentives in the upstream oil sector.

With regard to oil operations, significant precisions have been made on relations with the land owners, on the regime of oil operations, on the taxation and customs regime, and as well on the foreign exchange regime and on administrative supervision. Finally, precisions have been made as well on penal provisions.

Conclusively, it should be noted that this new text brings major precisions and significant clarifications permitting to concretize the reforms of the oil sector initiated by the Petroleum Code, with the aim of making the upstream oil sector more attractive and more competitive in Africa, to concretize and improve the promotion of oil operations in the whole territory, and finally, to better safeguard the interests of Cameroon before the always more powerful oil firm.

More details on the provisions of this text will be provided in an article which will be published by us very soon.