We may have arrived........
There is a sudden interest going on for the West Africa oil fields. The Gulf of Guinea,is
a real hot spot. Mobil Oil is really cook'n over there, 80,000 barrels a day just from
one well. Its production (Zafiro) reps less than 10% of the potential in Equatorial
Guinea. Other companies are now scrambling for the rights to explore the blocks soon
coming up for bid.
For years, Nigeria (2,317,000 b/day) was the only significant oil & gas exporter in
West Africa. Now other countries are getting in the game. Cameroon, 90 to 100,000
b/day, Gabon 369,000 b/day, Congo Republic more than 210,000 b/day, and Angola
720,000 b/day.
The news I've read says that in the next 20 years Western oil companies alone will
invest between $40 billion and $60 billion in the Gulf of Guinen alone. No one has
guessed how much the international companies will spend. Elf Aquitaine (Frances
largest oil co.) derives about 60% of its global production from there. This statement
was recently in a New York Times story:
"The growing importance of the Gulf of Guinen's oil reserves to the west was displayed
in December, when Madeleine Albright insisted on tagging Angola onto her her
itinerary during her first African tour as secretary of state. "Angola will soon be
supplying 10 percent of U.S. oil imports, which is considerably more than Kuwait
before the Gulf war," said James P. Rubin, the State Department spokesman. "It
simply does not make sense to visit Central Africa without visiting Angola."
So.... The Prez is heading to Africa.....Angola was not on the visit list......but who's to
say what will happen and be said down there???????
Steve. |
