Africa to become 3rd largest oil producer by 2011

Citizens of Nigeria's have been fighting international oil companies for generations in attempts to get their farm lands cleaned up. We have seen a recent bought of oil discoveries on other African nations, whether they will forge a different path from Nigeria or fall victim to the resource curse remains to be seen.

"Africa would likely surpass North America and become the third largest oil producer, after the Middle East and Central/Eastern Europe, by 2011, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Energy Utilities: Africa Oil and Gas Survey 2010. PwC forecast that, with the recent big finds of oil and gas reserves in Uganda and Ghana, there would likely be a flurry of exploration activity in Africa.

"However, there are constraints to growth that must be taken into consideration. Regulatory concerns - such as proposals on zero gas flaring and commitments to cleaner fuels and emission reductions - are some of the biggest challenges facing respondents to the Energy & Utilities survey. Other constraints to growth include the traditional
African limitations of poor infrastructure and corruption, attracting and retaining key talent and high set-up costs."

Implications:

"Africa’s oil and gas expansion could be viewed as either a threat or an opportunity to its poor people. Revenue received for exploration and production could assist governments to scale-up their poverty reduction programmes (skills development, job creation, provision of basic services, etc). However, persistent problems of corruption, lack of
transparency, inadequate administrations and so on could result in the divide between the rich and the poor growing larger, thus exacerbating the plight of the poor rather than improving it."