ANGOLA is set to overtake Nigeria as Africa’s largest producer of crude oil within a matter of years, according to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
In its Africa Energy Outlook special report, the IEA predicts that Nigeria will lose its top spot in 2016 and won’t recover it until at least the early 2020s.
Nigeria is producing around 2.37m bbl/d, but this has fallen by around 6% in the space of a year according to data from the US Energy Information Agency. Angola, meanwhile, is currently the world’s 17th biggest energy producer with an output of around 1.9m bbl/d of oil.
The group acknowledges that Nigeria is the richest resource centre of the oil sector,” but says that regulatory uncertainty, militant activity and rampant oil theft in the Niger Delta are deterring investment and production.
It claims that the value of the estimated 150,000 bbl/d of oil lost to theft – amounting to more than US$5bn/y – would be sufficient to fund universal access to electricity for all Nigerians by 2030.
The IEA says that Africa’s energy resources are more than sufficient to meet the needs of its population, but that they are largely under-developed.
Over the last five years the region accounted for almost 30% of all global oil and gas discoveries.
A better-functioning energy sector is vital to ensuring that the citizens of sub-Saharan Africa can fulfil their aspirations,” said IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven. The energy sector is acting as a brake on development, but this can be overcome and the benefits of success are huge.
In its Africa Energy Outlook special report, the IEA predicts that Nigeria will lose its top spot in 2016 and won’t recover it until at least the early 2020s.
Nigeria is producing around 2.37m bbl/d, but this has fallen by around 6% in the space of a year according to data from the US Energy Information Agency. Angola, meanwhile, is currently the world’s 17th biggest energy producer with an output of around 1.9m bbl/d of oil.
The group acknowledges that Nigeria is the richest resource centre of the oil sector,” but says that regulatory uncertainty, militant activity and rampant oil theft in the Niger Delta are deterring investment and production.
It claims that the value of the estimated 150,000 bbl/d of oil lost to theft – amounting to more than US$5bn/y – would be sufficient to fund universal access to electricity for all Nigerians by 2030.
The IEA says that Africa’s energy resources are more than sufficient to meet the needs of its population, but that they are largely under-developed.
Over the last five years the region accounted for almost 30% of all global oil and gas discoveries.
A better-functioning energy sector is vital to ensuring that the citizens of sub-Saharan Africa can fulfil their aspirations,” said IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven. The energy sector is acting as a brake on development, but this can be overcome and the benefits of success are huge.
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