Energy - Oil & Gas
Africa’s richness does not limit itself to its minerals. It is home to 8% of the world’s natural gases and 12% of the world’s oil reserves. The continent is a major contributor to oil and gas supplies in the international market and these exports remain a major driving factor for the continent’s economy.
In Focus
In Focus
- Presently, Algeria leads in natural gas production followed by Egypt and Nigeria. They are also the main exporters of the continent’s natural gas.
- Libya, Nigeria, Angola and Algeria hold the majority of the continent’s oil reserves.
- Oil reserves have grown particularly quickly since the mid-1990s as foreign oil companies took an interest in exploring and bringing in more investments.
- Shale reserves are a comparatively less explored area. Countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, Madagascar and Nigeria have shale reserves but a majority of them are not commercially used yet.
Opportunities
Opportunities
- Africa has many energy resources, but its energy use per capita is still among the lowest in the world. There are huge reserves of natural gas that are still undiscovered which could in turn be vital for industries such as fertilizer, steel, cement, etc.
- Environmental and economic sustainability is currently in prominence worldwide. More options for maximizing yield while minimizing impacts environmentally in an economic way is the need of the hour. This would call in a wave of infrastructural development like creating more storage and distributing capacities and decarbonising refineries.
- Investing in AI machinery and data analytics will increase safety and improve operational performance and accuracy.