Holders shall diligently and in accordance with the current standards and practices in the international petroleum industry, carry out the petroleum operations for which they are responsible.
Holders may under their responsibility sub-contract to qualified enterprises the petroleum operations for which they are responsible.
For purposes and within the limits of the petroleum operations assigned to them, the holder’s sub-contractors shall comply with the provisions of the laws and regulations in force.
Sub-contracts of a value above the ceiling amount set in the petroleum contract shall be disclosed to the Minister in charge of hydrocarbons or to any government body duly mandated for that purpose.
Holders of a petroleum contract acting as operator may delegate part of their petroleum operations to another holder equally acting as operator, for less than 12 (twelve) months, subject to prior approval by the Minister in charge of hydrocarbons.
Holders and their sub-contractors shall comply with the relevant hygiene and safety standards during petroleum operations, in accordance with the legislative and regulatory provisions in force and the current international petroleum industry best practices.
Holders shall, within forty-eight (48) hours, inform the competent administrative authorities about any serious accident during the conduct of petroleum operations.
Holders shall comply with all measures they may be instructed to take by the Minister in charge of hydrocarbons, including the installation, at their expense of equipment required to prevent or eliminate dangers that their petroleum operations may cause to public safety, the safety of civilians, personnel, the environment, or the conservation of classified sites and reserves, water sources or public roads, as provided for by the legislation and regulation in force.
However, holders shall be consulted regarding the conditions for carrying out such works in order to protect the interests of various parties.
In the case of commercial hydrocarbon production, and where the Minister in charge of hydrocarbons so request to satisfy the needs of the Cameroonian domestic market, holders shall, as a matter of priority, sell to the State or any duly mandated government body, the share of the hydrocarbon production to which they are entitled. The terms and conditions for fulfilling such obligation shall be specified by regulation.
Where the needs of the Cameroonian domestic market are satisfied, holders shall freely dispose of the share of hydrocarbon production to which they are entitled.
The conclusion of a petroleum contract shall, under no circumstances whatsoever, confer any right to refine or process hydrocarbons and/or sell and distribute products derived there from within the territory of Cameroon, since the said activities fall under the downstream petroleum sector, unless expressly authorized by the State.
When a hydrocarbon deposit covers several contract areas granted to
different holders or resulting from separate petroleum contracts containing different provisions with regard to entitlement to hydrocarbons, the holders may enter into an agreement known as “unitization agreement” to exploit such deposit under the best possible economic and technical condition.