• News
• Europe
• N/America
• Middle-East
• Asia
• S/America
• Africa

As one might expect, the world's three largest consuming regions -- North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific -- are all importers. All the other regions are exporters.

Africa Top 10 Oil Producing Countries

1 ) Nigeria (Oil Production: 2.2 million barrels per day) Africa's most populous nation is also Africa's largest oil producers. Since Shell discovered oil in Oloibiri in the Niger Delta in 1956, oil production has grown to place Nigeria as the 10th largest producer in the world on par with Kuwait.

2 ) Algeria (Oil Production: 2.1 million barrels per day) Algeria is also an early entrant in African oil production with the first field coming online in 1956. Algeria largest oilfield is Hassi Messaoud operated by Sonatrach, the Algerian national Oil company. The field produces 242,000 barrels per day. Soanatrach had dominated the oil industry in Algeria operating most of the major fields,

3 ) Angola (Oil Production: 1.9 million barrels per day) Angola is blessed with an abundance of natural resources. Oil and diamond exports are providing much the needed capital that Angola needs to recover from the ravages of the civil war. Most of Angola's current production is from offshore oil fields off the coast of the Cabinda enclave.

4 ) Libya (Oil Production: 1.87 million barrels per day) Libya is one of the oldest oil producers in Africa with oil first struck in 1959. Libya also has the largest proven reserves of oil in Africa with recent estimates putting these at 39.1 billion barrels. Most of Libya's current production is located in the Sitre basin, around the bay of Benghazi.

5 ) Egypt (Oil Production: 680,500 barrels per day) Half of all Egypt's oil production comes from the Gulf of Suez with oil fields in the Western Desert, Eastern Desert and the Sinai Peninsula providing the rest. Egypt oil production has been falling steadily since 1995 and a comparatively large domestic consumption means the volume of oil available for export has reduced significantly.

6 ) Sudan (Oil Production: 486,700 barrels per day) . Sudan's major partner in the development of its oil production has been the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). CNPC is the lead investor in the Greater Nile Project which produces about 90% of Sudan's oil output.

7 ) Equatorial Guinea (Oil Production: 346,000 barrels per day) . The discovery of the offshore Zafiro oil field by Exxon Mobil and Ocean Energy in 1995 kick started oil production in Equatorial Guinea and remains the largest producing oil field to date. The exploration and development of new fields continues a pace, with the recently discovered Alba fields showing a lot of potential.

8 ) Congo (Oil Production:247,000 barrels per day) Similar to its northern neighbour Gabon, Congo has seen a fall in its production in recent years due to maturing oil fields and the need for new fields to go into production. Less than two percent of the oil produced in Congo is consumed domestically leaving a still significant amount available for export.

9 ) Gabon (Oil Production: 241,000 barrels per day) . Most of Gabon's oil is produced from Shell's Rabi-Kounga field. Gabon has seen many of its existing oil fields maturing and this means it may be unable to raise its output in the long term without a significant number of new fields coming online.

10 ) Chad (Oil Production: 115,000 barrels per day) . Chad's oil production began in 2003 when a World Bank financed pipeline was launched. This runs for 670miles from the Doba oilfields in the south of the country through to the port of Kribi in Cameroon.

Africa Major Oilfield

Nigeria's Major Oilfields

Nigeria has several large producing fields including the Bonga Offshore field, the Agbami and Erha oil fields. The Joint Development Zone (JDZ) agreed with its island neighbour,Sao Tome and Principe, is also expected to add to Nigeria's substantial reserves.

Erha oilfield is also due to start production late this year. Located in oil prospecting license (OPL) 209 and operated by ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd., Erha will raise Nigeria’s crude oil production by 150,000 b/d and reserves by 560 MMbbl when it comes on stream.

The Usan field, discovered in 2002, is 110 km offshore in water depths of approximately 800 m. In 2004, a western Usan extension was confirmed by the drilling of Usan 5 and 6. Usan 7 and 8 confirmed an eastern extension of the Usan field.

NNPC authorized Total, as operator, to begin developing the offshore Akpo field on the oil mining license (OML) 130 in Nigeria. Total holds a 24% interest in OML 130, alongside NNPC, Petrobras, and Sapetro. Discovered in 2000, the Akpo gas and condensate field is located around 200 km offshore Port Harcourt in water depths ranging from 1,100 to 1,700 m.

OML 120 and 121 Oilfields, located in the Nigerian offshore some 200 km off the coast at a depth ranging between 200 and 900 m. Eni already operates the fields through its subsidiary Nigerian Agip Exploration.

The Oyo field, one of the first oil discoveries made in the Nigerian deepwater during the previous exploration phase, is located in OML 120.

Bobo-1X was drilled in block OPL 322, to a total depth of 5,173 m in 2,479 m of water, the second deepest well in offshore Nigeria. Drilling was completed under budget, and found over 140 m of hydrocarbon-bearing sands. Shell has a 40% shareholding in the block.

Etan-1X was drilled in block OPL 245, held 100% by Shell, to a total depth of 4,574 m in 1,720 m of water. The well logged 120 m of hydrocarbon-bearing sands.

Angola's Major Oilfields

After Nigeria, Angola is the second-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa, with oil accounting for 40% of the country’s GDP.

Seven blocks - 1, 5, and 6, which are located on the shelf of the lower Congo and Kwanza basins; blocks 15, 17, and 18 (excluding development areas) in deepwater of the lower Congo basin, and block 26, a deepwater block in the Benguela sub-basin.

In 2005, Saipem has been awarded an offshore drilling contract for the charter of the rillship Saipem 10000 by Total Exploration and Production Angola, operator of offshore Angola block 17. The Rosa field is located 200 km offshore Angola, at water depths of up to 1,700 m.

Sonangol, Angolan state oil company, is the block 17 concessionaire. Total’s co-venturers in the block are Esso Exploration Angola (block 17) Ltd., BP Exploration (Angola) Ltd., Statoil Angola block 17 AS, and Norsk Hydro.

The Kissanje and Dikanza fields in deepwater offshore Angola started production. The two fields, about 350 km from the capital Luanda, reached a production of 250,000 b/d by the end of 2005.

Kissanje and Dikanza fields are part of the Kizomba B project and are located in block 15 in water depths of approximately 1,000 m. Partners in the project include Eni (20%), ExxonMobil (operator, 40%), BP (26.67%) and Statoil (13.33%).

Kizomba B is the third project to developed in block 15 after Xikomba and Kizomba.

Eighth discovery was made in block 31 off Angola, which is operated by BP and Sonangol. Licensees in block 31 are BP with 26.67%, ExxonMobil 25%, Sonangol 20%, Statoil 13.33%, Marathon Petroleum 10%, and Total 5%.

The Astraea-1 wildcat drilled from the Jack Ryan drillship to a total measured depth of 3,511 m in 1,496 m of water. The well was tested at a rate of 6,513 b/d.

Astraea lies 10 km southeast of the Palas field. Other discoveries in block 31 are Pluta~o, Saturno, Marte, Venus, Ceres and Juno. Congo

Agip (Italy), the second largest producer in Congo, produces approximately 25% of Congolese oil output.

Equatorial Guinea’s Major Oilfields

Equatorial Guinea’s total proven oil reserves are estimated at 1.28 Bbbl. Oil production is expanding rapidly.

GE Petrol became Equatorial Guinea’s national oil company in 2001. Its primary focus has become managing the government’s interest stakes in various production sharing contracts with international oil companies, although it also participates in joint ventures and markets its share of crude oil production.

Zafiro field, located northwest of Bioko Island, was discovered in 1995 by ExxonMobil and Ocean Energy (bought by Devon Energy in 2003) and contains the majority of the country’s oil reserves.

Ceiba, Equatorial Guinea’s second major producing oil field, is located just offshore of Rio Muni in exploration block G and is estimated to contain 300-800 MMbbl of oil. The field - discovered by Amerada Hess in 1999 - began production in December 2000.

Alba, Equatorial Guinea’s third significant field, is located 12 miles north of Bioko Island. Walter International Inc. discovered it in 1991. Original estimates of reserves at Alba were around 68 MMboe, but recent exploration has increased new estimates to almost 1 Bboe. Unlike the Zafiro or Ceiba fields, E&P at Alba has focused on natural gas, including condensates.

South Africa has the second largest oil refinery system in Africa and imports the majority of its crude oil from members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), namely Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nigeria and Angola.