The African Energy Chamber (AEC) welcomes Murphy Oil’s signing of four production sharing contracts (PSCs) with Cameroon, opening approximately 10,578 km² of offshore acreage to exploration. Signs with the state-owned Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures (SNH) in Yaoundé on November 11, the agreements cover the Elombo, Etinde Exploration, Ntem and Tilapia blocks in the Douala-Kribi-Campo Basin. The awards give the Houston-based independent producer operatorship across all four blocks and establish a potential seven-year exploration program worth $202.4 million.
They also come as Cameroon seeks to arrest declining crude production as mature fields lose output and the country looks to new discoveries to replenish its resource base. National crude production fell 9.4% in 2025, from 21.38 million barrels to 19.37 million barrels. Murphy’s entry brings an established international operator into four offshore prospects, with the potential to move the basin from geological assessment toward a substantial drilling campaign. The Chamber supports the government’s efforts to attract the technical expertise and exploration capital needed to open up new production opportunities.
The financial structure provides a clear pathway from initial geological work to potential drilling. Murphy has committed a minimum of $2.4 million across the four blocks during an initial three-year exploration period, covering seismic data reprocessing and detailed geoscience studies. Two successive two-year extensions could bring the total program to $202.4 million. Each extension provides for one exploration well per block, at an estimated cost of $25 million per well, creating the potential for eight wells and $200 million in additional drilling expenditure. The larger investment is conditional on the extensions being exercised, with the initial studies informing decisions on whether to advance.
Murphy will initially hold a 100% working interest through its local subsidiary and serve as operator. SNH retains the option to acquire up to 20% in future development projects, allowing Cameroon’s national oil company to participate in commercially viable discoveries. The arrangement gives Murphy responsibility for evaluating the acreage while preserving a route for state participation should exploration establish resources worth developing.
The contracts follow an international licensing process launched by Cameroon on August 1, 2025, which offered nine offshore blocks to potential investors. Murphy received four awards in April 2026, while Octavia Energy secured the Bolongo Exploration block in the Rio del Rey Basin. With the Murphy agreements now signed, and Octavia having formalized its award in August, all five blocks awarded through that licensing process have progressed to contracts. Cameroon has since opened another licensing round, offering six additional exploration blocks across three basins.
Murphy’s commitment also reflects a broader expansion across West African offshore markets. The company recently signed PSCs for the C-10 and Tiof blocks offshore Mauritania, adding approximately 3.1 million acres to its exploration portfolio. In Ivory Coast, its Bubale-1X well in Block CI-709 delivered a light oil discovery in June 2026. The Cameroon agreements mark another significant addition to this regional position, bringing four further blocks into a portfolio that also include offshore interests in the U.S., Canada, Vietnam and Israel.
The AEC views the agreements as an important opportunity for Cameroon to translate its offshore resource potential into renewed exploration activity. The immediate priority will be completing the geological assessments and establishing whether the acreage warrants the next stage of investment. For a country confronting declining output from mature fields, the prospect of eight exploration wells represents a meaningful opportunity to identify new resources and build a pipeline of future developments. The Chamber welcomes Murphy’s commitment to Cameroon and encourages continued progress toward exploration drilling and the discovery of commercially viable hydrocarbons.
“Cameroon has an opportunity to turn its offshore resource potential into a new generation of oil and gas discoveries. Murphy Oil’s commitment to these four blocks is an important step in that direction. We welcome this investment and encourage the government and industry to keep building the partnerships that will bring exploration forward, create opportunities and strengthen Cameroon’s position as an oil and gas producer,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, AEC.
