Noble Energy Inc. and Petronas Carigali Gas Ltd. jointly won a $119 million contract this week to explore and drill oil in Cameroon's southwestern locality of the Douala/Kribi-Campo basin, state-run Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV) reported Saturday.

"Under the contract, the consortium of Noble Energy and Petronas commits to undertake in this zone, during an initial period of three years, a program of exploration activities, which comprises the acquisition, processing and interpretation of at least 600 kilometers of 2D seismic data and the drilling of two exploration wells," said a statement read Saturday on CRTV issued by Cameroon government-owned National Hydrocarbons Corporation (SNH).

The communique said the "minimum investment committed for the three periods amounts to USD119 million" for the five-year contract.

Petronas (6033.KU) and Noble Energy (NBL) are partners in Cameroon oil investment, and the Malaysian firm is a shareholder of the 1,080-kilometer Chad-Cameroon Pipeline. The pipeline snakes from southern Chadian oil fields of Doba into Cameroon's Atlantic coastal town of Kribi.

-By Emmanuel Tumanjong, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; 237-9655-6261; tnuel@yahoo.com