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| Africa: West |
| São Tomé : What oil can |
| 2003-07-17 |
| While this is an older article; with the coupe the other day I thought this might give a bit of background. The island nation of São Tomé and PrÃÂncipe, which sits on perhaps 4 billion barrels of crude, is also attracting foreign oilmen. These upstart countries join such established giants as Nigeria, which plans to increase its output from its current 1.9 million barrels per day to more than 3 million ; Angola, which wants to double its almost 1 million daily output ; and Gabon, which is encouraging more deepwater exploration to prop up declining production. All the action makes the waters off West Africa one of the hottest places for oil exploration in the world. On a global scale, the numbers may seem modest ; total proven reserves in the Gulf of Guinea sit at 40 billion barrels, less than one-sixth of Saudi Arabia’s 261 billion. But Africa is just getting started. Says Al Stanton, an Edinburgh-based oil analyst with Deutsche Bank : "The opportunities for expansion are tremendous." |
| Posted by:SamIII |