Cameroon's energy sector crisis
Cameroon's energy sector is currently in a significant crisis, despite the country possessing abundant hydroelectric resources. The situation has hindered the government's initiatives aimed at fostering economic growth and reducing poverty, which affects nearly half of the population. Since the early 2000s, the energy crisis has intensified, leading to the establishment of an energy steering committee in 2004; however, responses have primarily been emergency measures rather than comprehensive structural reforms. Factors such as low rainfall causing power shortages and rising demand—growing at approximately 10% annually—have exacerbated the situation. The industrial sector, particularly manufacturers, has faced severe electricity shortages, resulting in reduced production and layoffs.
While projects like the new dam at the Lom and Pangar Rivers aim to enhance hydroelectric capacity, critics argue that the benefits may not extend to households but rather to industries. Furthermore, with the increasing unpredictability of rainfall due to climate change, there are calls for diversifying energy sources, including a goal of achieving 25% renewable energy by 2035. Additionally, the country has untapped natural gas reserves, which could be harnessed to alleviate the chronic power supply issues. Overall, addressing these challenges requires improved management and transparency within the energy sector to foster sustainable development.
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Cameroon's energy sector crisis
Official Name: Republic of Cameroon.
Summary: Although the country has considerable hydroelectric resources, Cameroon has been hit by a crisis in the energy sector, affecting the government’s plans for economic growth and poverty reduction.
Often called “Africa in miniature” because of its varied landscapes and ethnic groups that seem to include samples from the entire continent, the western African nation of Cameroon has, since the late 1990s, launched an important program of reforms that include the energy sector, albeit with mixed results. These aim to reduce poverty, which still affects almost half of the Cameroonian population, and encourage privatization to attract international investments. The energy sector plays an important part in this program of growth, as it should effectively sustain the country’s economy.
Since the beginning of the new millennium, Cameroon has been hit by a severe energy crisis that forced the government to institute an energy steering committee in 2004. However, the crisis has been addressed by emergency measures rather than with structural reforms. For example, in 2007, low rainfall and drought caused serious blackouts that led, in turn, to workers’ protests and strikes. One of the reasons for the limited success in attracting foreign investors, quoted in different reports, is the lack of adequate energetic infrastructure to support national industries. Two-thirds of manufacturers argue that they experience severe power shortages that force them to reduce production and lay off workers. For example, the aluminum-smelting group Alucam Socatral was forced to almost halve its rate of production.
This energy crisis has been caused, on one hand, by the reduction of petroleum and electricity resources and, on the other, by increasing demand, which has been growing by 10 percent per year. That figure is likely to increase as a result of urban and population growth as well as economic diversification. Plans to address this rising demand include the building of new power plants as well as the construction of dams to increase the hydroelectric capacity and avoid reduction in electricity supply resulting from droughts. One of the most recent projects in this direction is the dam at the confluence of the Lom and Pangar Rivers, which was constructed during the 2010s. Although government officials and business leaders regard this dam as a step forward in addressing the country’s chronic lack of electricity in the dry season, critics of the project point out that most of the energy produced will not benefit Cameroonian households but, rather, industries. They also argue that the country is already largely dependent on hydroelectric resources to produce energy and that it would do better to look at alternative ways of producing energy, using renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. Cameroon set objectives of 25 percent renewable energy by 2035. Transitioning to a variety of renewable energy sources is particularly imperative as global climate change has affected the predictability of rainfall and thus may impact hydropower.
The country started to produce oil in 1977, and its production peaked in the mid-1980s at more than 170,000 barrels a day. By the mid-1990s, because of the depletion of existing reserves, production was reduced by 40 percent. New discoveries at the end of the twentieth century made it possible to slow this decline. The 2002 ruling of the International Court of Justice, which gave the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon, ended a decade-long dispute with Nigeria and gave new impetus to Cameroonian industry. In addition, an important innovation that favored the oil industry was the development of the Doba Basin oil fields and the consequent construction of the Cameroon-Chad Pipeline, which allows the transit of oil produced in Chad. The production of crude oil in 2006 was estimated at 86,000 barrels a day, but by 2023 had fallen to 54,000. The major operators in Cameroon are ExxonMobil, Shell, Total, and the Cameroonian National Hydrocarbons Corporation (SNH). SONARA is the national refinery company and is also in charge of producing domestic gas.
The country has still underexploited natural gas resources that are estimated to be 4 trillion cubic feet. In 2022, the country produced 2.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Important reserves were discovered off the coast of Kribi, and the employment of gas reserves to generate electricity could be a solution to the chronic power cuts that have plagued Cameroon for years. The reforms and restructuring undergone by the Cameroonian energy sector in the past decade need to be combined with a more efficient and transparent management of the national industries of the sector as well as better management of the generated revenues.
Bibliography
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