Exporting 90 percent of Africa’s Oil Production Regrettable

An indigenous player in the oil and gas sector, Mr. Victor Ekpenyong, has said that it was regrettable that almost 90 percent of oil productions in Africa is exported.

This is as Nigeria in the last quarter of 2022 returned as the largest oil producer in Africa, overtaking Algeria and Angola in production volume with an average of 1.35 million barrels of crude oil daily, according to oil production data from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Ekpenyong, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Kenyon International West Africa Ltd, an indigenous oil servicing firm, reacting on the development regretted that the African continent has a long way to go as bulk of its oil production was for export.

He lamented that Africa has not performed optimally as it ought to, as the continent is known for centuries to be a place for sourcing raw materials and call for urgent change in the narrative.

“It is regrettable that almost 90 percent of oil productions in Africa is exported. Nigeria, the largest producer of oil and Angola the second largest producer of oil all import petroleum products.

“Ghana with a population of 34million citizens imports petroleum products and does not have functional refineries. Meanwhile, Algeria, with a population of 44million people refines 50percent of their production within their country.

“As someone who is well travelled, it is a flaw in African system to export 100percent of our production and then import petroleum products, honestly there is a need for the African continent to do better.”