Yaounde, Cameroon Africa. (Cameroon News) – A joint exploration mission of the Cameroon National Hydrocarbons Corporation and its Chinese partner, Yan Chang Logone Development Company SA, has revealed the existence of hydrocarbons in the Logone –Birni Basin in the Far North Region of Cameroon.

Officials of the two companies who started hydrocarbons exploration some months ago, disclosed their findings during a meeting in the Far North Regional capital, Maroua on November 10, 2011, presided at by Governor Joseph Beti Assomo.

The results from an exploration well drilled in the area indicate sand some 18 metres high with great quantities of hydrocarbons, though the quantity of crude oil in it cannot yet be estimated, said an exploration expert.

Petroleum products will only be produced in the area between two and four years, the leader of the National Hydrocarbons Corporation, Serge-Edouard Angoua stated. The Chinese company will in four years invest FCFA 9 billion in petroleum research in the area.

Drilling of wells will take place at two sites of Zina and Makary in the Logone and Chari Division. Yan Chang Logone Development Company SA will in the coming days drill more exploration wells to determine the available quantity of hydrocarbons.

In 2009, the Chinese company with headquarters in Hong Kong and Cameroon’s National Hydrocarbons Corporation, signed an on shore petroleum research and production sharing contract in a surface area of 8,506 km square in the Logone and Chari Division of Far North Cameroon.