From Mozambique and Uganda to Ghana's offshore exploration (pictured at right), new oil prospects in Africa are giving the continent a chance for greater sovereignty over its economic future. Africa's increasing oil opportunity is one of six "overlooked energy stories" in a year-end post on NationalGeographic.com:
Although petroleum geologists long have believed the continent held vast stores of resources beyond those of established producers Angola, Nigeria and Libya, the potential remained untapped, due to political volatility and exploration costs.
But a more peaceful climate in some countries has dawned just at a time when sustained high global oil prices and 3-D seismic technology have made exploration more economically feasible. In addition to Mozambique, Uganda and Somalia are seen as new frontiers on Africa's east coast. On the west coast, oil rigs are working offshore in Sierra Leone and Liberia, the latter a country that has never before produced crude oil.
With a citation to RWI's ongoing commentary on Ghana, the authors note the slower-than-hoped-for progress in the growing oil sector, and the "dampened expectations" as real-world challenges to transparency and good governance arise.
As the article suggests, Africa's burgeoning oil boom is easier to overlook while the prospects for prosperity remain murky. But the increased attention on Ghana's oil program improves the chances for local and international attention to the policy decisions that can make Ghana's path to economic development clearer.
National Geographic's "overlooked energy stories" also include accounts of the sector's impact on poverty, health and the environment in a range of countries. The photo above by Max Milligan (Photolibrary), showing Ghana's Jubilee oil operation, accompanies the article.
