Africa is gaining importance as an oil-producing region. From 1990 to 2005, oil production rose from 6.5 to 9.3 million barrels per day, representing an increase from 9.9% to 11.2% of world production.
The sustained high oil price in recent years has highlighted Africa’s potential as a supplier of oil, and the continent has become the focus of attention of some major oil importing countries, most notably China, says the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The largest producers in the continent are Angola, Nigeria, Angola and Sudan. But oil and gas have also been recently discovered in Uganda, Ghana and Tanzania.
In the light of this positive development, the African Union AU will organize, at its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 9 to 11 December 2009, the second edition of the Conference of Ministers responsible for Hydrocarbons.
The meeting will review the oil and gas sector in Africa through a study jointly conducted by the AU and the African Development Bank (AfDB). In addition, as globalization is affecting Africa with crises such as high oil prices, the conference will dedicate a session to regional training on the simulation model on high oil prices impact on the African economies.
A strategy and a plan of action for the resource mobilization for the African Petroleum Fund are meant to be designed during the Conference. ?An expert’s session will run from 9 to 10 December while the ministerial meeting will take place on 11th.
