Crude oil exports are the main source of income for many African countries, according to a German portal report, statistaIn 2021, Africa's proven crude oil reserves will amount to 125.3 billion barrels. The largest reserves are in Libya, Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Sudan, Egypt, Congo Brazzaville, Uganda, Gabon and Chad.
Africa's largest crude oil reserves?
Abundant crude oil reserves are one thing, but being able to extract and exploit them is quite another. So it's interesting to see whether the countries with the largest crude oil reserves are also those that produce the most.
For the year 2021 (statista figures), Libya is the country with the largest proven crude oil reserves on the African continent, with 48.4 billion barrels. In second place is Nigeria, with 36.9 billion barrels. Algeria comes in third, but well behind the top two, with 12.2 billion barrels. Fourth place went to Angola, with 7.8 billion barrels. The other countries in the top 10 are Sudan, Egypt, Congo Brazzaville, Uganda, Gabon and Chad, with 5, 3.3, 2.9, 2.5, 2 and 1.5 billion barrels respectively.
Top 10 oil-producing countries in Africa
In addition, here is the list of the ten African countries that produced the most crude oil in 2021. The figures shown are based on data supplied by both the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other reliable databases.
- Nigeria this West African country was the world's largest largest crude oil producer. Its average daily production in 2021 was 1.27 million barrels.
- Libya Libya: Africa's leading oil reserve, Libya is the second largest oil-producing country in the world. In 2021, it produced an average of 1.21 million barrels of crude oil per day.
- Angola The oil-rich country produced a daily average of 1.11 million barrels of crude.
- Algeria The country produced an average of 959,000 barrels of crude oil per day. This puts it in 4th, position among Africa's oil-producing countries.
- Egypt Egypt produced 559,000 barrels a day.
- Congo The country's production in 2021 is estimated at a daily average of 253,000 barrels.
- Gabon Gabon's production averaged 188,000 barrels per day.
- Ghana The West African country's daily crude oil production is set to reach 176,000 barrels in 2021.
- Equatorial Guinea The country's average daily production was 71,000 barrels.
- Chad production was 70,000 barrels a day.
Thus, the countries with the largest reserves of black gold are also among the top 10 oil-producing African countries. There are a few exceptions, however. For example, Sudan, with the 5th largest reserves (5 billion barrels), does not feature in the top 10. On the other hand, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea, which do not appear in the list of largest reserves, are among Africa's biggest oil-producing countries.
Finally, note that the price of oil continues to rise. For Friday May 4, 2022, a barrel sold for around 110 $.