Cameroon’s oil refinery, SONARA dragged to court by Swiss Group Glencore over 9.6 billion FCFA unpaid bills

By Amos Fofung

The State-owned refinery of Cameroon, SONARA has been sued before the High Court of Justice in London by Swiss commodities group, Glencore over unpaid bills.

Glencore Energy UK Ltd (a subsidiary of Swiss commodities trader Glencore), via the law firm Ince Gordon Dadds, is demanding the payment of €14.7 million, roughly cira 9.6 billion FCFA from the state refinery situated in Cameroon’s coastal port city of Limbe in its South West region.

According to Glencore, the amount represents, for the most part, late payment penalties in connection with a supply contract where 1.6 million barrels of crude oil were delivered to SONARA between November 2012 and January 2015. The Swiss trader is suing for non-payment within the contractual deadlines.

The case bought to the England and Wales High Court accuses SONARA of not respecting its contractual commitments. As per reports between 2012 and 2015, four contracts were concluded between the two parties, but the financial requirements were never concluded.

Sonara has not officially reacted to this legal procedure launched before the British courts since June 2020 and revealed by Law360 on August 11, 2020.