Cameroon’s Chad pipeline revenue surges to 222 billion FCFA in six years

The Chad-Cameroon pipeline has solidified its position as a vital and structural revenue stream for Yaoundé. Between 2020 and 2025, the Cameroonian Public Treasury recorded an impressive 222.2 billion FCFA in transit fees, collected from the passage of Chadian crude oil en route to the Kribi maritime terminal. This significant figure is detailed in the Medium-Term Economic and Budgetary Programming Document for 2027-2029, compiled by the Ministry of Finance. Spread across these six fiscal years, this translates to an average annual royalty of 37 billion FCFA, earned in exchange for the oil’s transit through Cameroonian territory.

As a landlocked nation without direct access to the sea, Chad relies entirely on this critical infrastructure to export its oil production. The transit fee levied by Cameroon is calculated per barrel transported, based on a tariff that is periodically revised through agreements between the two countries. This mechanism, combined with the volume of oil transported and the prevailing dollar-FCFA exchange rate, ultimately determines the actual yield of the pipeline for Cameroon’s public finances.

A revenue stream multiplied by 3.5 over a decade

A comparison with the pipeline’s initial decade of operation clearly illustrates the dramatic increase in scale. According to data from the Pipeline Steering and Monitoring Committee (CPSP), Cameroon accrued 85.5 billion FCFA in transit rights during the eight years following the pipeline’s commissioning on October 3, 2003. At that time, the annual average stood at approximately 10.7 billion FCFA, a stark contrast to today’s 37 billion. Remarkably, recent collections over a shorter two-year window have already surpassed those of the entire first eight years by 136.7 billion FCFA.

This considerable leap, however, warrants careful analytical consideration. The overall performance of the Chad-Cameroon pipeline is simultaneously influenced by the unit tariff applied per barrel, the physical volumes of crude oil transported, and the dollar-to-FCFA exchange rate. Without a publicly available annual breakdown of the 222.2 billion FCFA, it remains challenging to isolate the precise contribution of each of these variables to the observed revenue growth.

Unit tariff increased multiple times

The successive revaluation of the transit tariff stands as one of the primary drivers behind this revenue surge. Initially set at 0.41 dollars per barrel when the pipeline commenced operations, this unit price was first increased in 2013, and then again in 2018, reaching 1.321 dollars per barrel. This means the tariff has more than tripled over fifteen years, mechanically boosting Cameroonian revenues irrespective of the volumes of oil transported.

A further revision was anticipated to take effect from October 1, 2023, in line with the agreed mechanism between the parties. However, no new rate has been publicly disclosed to date. This silence introduces an element of uncertainty regarding the future trajectory of these royalties, especially given that tariff negotiations are a recurring diplomatic point of contention between Yaoundé and N’Djamena.

A comparison to handle with caution

Historical readings necessitate a clear distinction between different accounting scopes. COTCO, the operator of the Cameroonian section of the pipeline, previously reported approximately 200 billion FCFA remitted to the Treasury between 2004 and 2013. However, this amount encompassed income tax and various other duties and taxes paid by the company, not solely the transit right. Therefore, it cannot be directly compared to the 222.2 billion FCFA for the 2020-2025 period, which exclusively pertains to transit fees. The exact portion of the transit right within the 200 billion announced by COTCO was never detailed, making the 85.5 billion FCFA from the first eight years the most homogeneous and reliable comparison point.

The current fiscal year continues to affirm the robustness of this revenue stream. By the end of May 2026, Cameroon had already collected 15.1 billion FCFA in transit fees, according to CPSP figures. While this interim level does not predetermine the annual outcome, it undeniably confirms the budgetary weight of the Chad-Cameroon pipeline in the revenues Yaoundé derives from the export of Chadian crude oil. The publication of the new tariff, awaited since October 2023, remains one of the decisive parameters for anticipating the revenue trajectory in the coming years, a key aspect of African economy news.