Cameroon’s national refinery- Sonara signed last September 29 a deal with Trafigura PTE LTD to restructure CFA14 billion owed to the Swiss trader. Per this new debt restructuring agreement, the Cameroonian company now has 10 years to repay the amount with an interest rate of 5.5%.
The partners also agreed that the State will guarantee Sonara through “the inclusion in the petroleum products’ price structure of a refinery support line of FCFA47.88 per liter”, explained Finance Minister Louis Paul Motaze. The beneficiary will then settle its debt via this mechanism. As a reminder, Sonara also has similar deals with traders Vitol and PSTV DMCC, whose repayment agreements were signed on September 22, 2022 and January 26, 2023 respectively.
The Finance Minister explained that the signing of debt restructuring agreements with traders in particular is scheduled for completion in October 2023, with traders Mercuria Energy Trading, Petra Energy and Addax Energy.”
Indeed, the debt of Cameroon’s most indebted public company came to light after the fire that destroyed part of the Limbé refinery in May 2019. This tragedy limited Sonara’s ability to repay its debt of FCFA1,000 billion, FCFA374 billion of which are owed to traders and suppliers of crude oil and finished petroleum products.