Cameroon expects crude-oil output to jump in 2015

Cameroon's crude-oil production is expected to take major leap by 2015, after rising 15% between January and October, a top official in the West African nation's state-run National Hydrocarbons Corp., or SNH, told Dow Jones Newswires Monday.

New oil wells that started producing in 2014, increased their output to 22.7 million barrels, said the official. He added that production was to resume in wells that had been set aside, because of better modern equipment.

"We expect national crude-oil production to stand around 50 million barrels by the end of 2015, especially as new wells have gone operational this year. The newly acquired equipment now enables us return to the mature wells that were left some time ago," said the official, who preferred not to be named.

Crude oil exported on behalf of the state stood at 13.5 million barrels as of Oct. 31, according to the figures.

The West African nation produced 22.7 million barrels as of Oct. 31, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, board chairman at SNH, said Wednesday, attributing the rise in output to exploitation of new wells in Padouk, Inoua-Barombi and Barombi in the southwestern parts of the country.

The SNH manages and markets the oil and gas sector in Cameroon on behalf of the government. Data from the SNH indicated the West African nation produced 24.2 million barrels in 2013, up from 2012 crude-oil output of 22.6 million.