CAMEROON · ENERGY
Key Facts
- What Cameroon’s state oil company SNH and US explorer Murphy Oil signed four offshore contracts on Wednesday, 11 November.
- Where Etinde Exploration, Tilapia, Elombo and Ntem blocks, together 10,578 square kilometres off Cameroon’s southern coast.
- Size Work programme estimated at 112 billion Central African CFA francs (about US$190 million) over up to seven years.
- Catch Under the programme presented at signing, drilling comes only in renewal periods after three years of studies.
- Who Murphy Oil is a New York-listed US explorer; SNH is the state company that signs for Cameroon.
Cameroon’s state oil company and a US explorer signed four offshore exploration contracts on Wednesday, with drilling scheduled only after three years of studies, in renewal periods.
On Wednesday 11 November 2026, Cameroon’s state oil company SNH and US explorer Murphy Oil Corporation signed four production sharing contracts in Yaoundé, the capital. The contracts cover the offshore blocks Etinde Exploration, Tilapia, Elombo and Ntem, with a work programme estimated at 112 billion Central African CFA francs (about US$190 million at 11 November exchange rates).
Fuh Calistus Gentry, Cameroon’s Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, presided over the ceremony. For US readers, this is a New York-listed company adding exploration acreage on Africa’s Atlantic coast, with no oil flowing yet.
What Was Signed in Yaoundé
A production sharing contract lets a company explore at its own cost and recover that spending from future oil, with the state keeping a share of the rest. SNH, the Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures, signs for the State of Cameroon.
The four blocks lie in the Douala/Kribi-Campo basin, an offshore area off Cameroon’s southern coast, and together cover 10,578.13 square kilometres (about 4,084 square miles). Murphy will initially hold 100% of each block and act as operator.
SNH may take up to 20% of future development. The licences were awarded to Murphy on 24 April 2026, after SNH invited expressions of interest in a call it launched on 1 August 2025.
Drilling Depends on Extensions
The minimum work programme runs for a maximum of seven years. In the first three years Murphy must reprocess existing seismic data and carry out geological and geophysical studies.
Drilling comes afterwards: under the programme presented at the signing, Murphy drills one exploration well per contract in each of two further two-year periods, which follow renewal of the licences. That puts the drilling later and makes it conditional on renewal.
What Is Not Known
No date has been given for the first well, and we could not read the full contract terms. Cameroonian business reports say nearly all of the 112 billion CFA francs is drilling that depends on the extensions.
One Cameroonian business report notes that the 2025 tender asked for 3D seismic and an early first well, and that the signed programme drops both. We could not read the contracts to confirm this.
What It Means for You
Murphy investors should read this as an exploration option, not a production story, because the first well is years away at the earliest. For Cameroon, the signing brings new exploration spending, but any oil would need years of drilling and development before it reached market.
Murphy also signed two offshore contracts in Mauritania on 3 November, as we reported in Mauritania Signs Two Oil Deals With US Firm. More on the country is in our Cameroon coverage and Africa energy section.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Cameroon and Murphy Oil sign?
Four production sharing contracts for the offshore blocks Etinde Exploration, Tilapia, Elombo and Ntem, signed in Yaoundé on 11 November 2026. The work programme is estimated at 112 billion CFA francs (about US$190 million; SNH and Murphy say about US$200 million).
When will Murphy drill in Cameroon?
The first three years cover seismic reprocessing and studies, then one exploration well per contract in each of two later two-year periods that follow renewal. No drilling date has been announced.
Who will hold the blocks?
Murphy will initially hold 100% of each block and operate it. SNH may take up to 20% of future development.
Sources: Murphy Oil Corporation’s press release of 11 November 2026 (murphyoilcorp.com); SNH’s 2025 licensing round and its 24 April 2026 award announcement (snh.cm); the signing ceremony in Yaoundé, as reported by two independent Cameroonian business outlets.
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