Petroleum Products Demand Surges 1.7% in Africa

Demand for refined petroleum products in Africa is expected to rise over the next 25 years, at 1.7percent per annum on average, according to a recent report by the Organization of Petroleum Producing Countries (OPEC).

Growth in demand basically will be driven by rising demand for oil and gas for power generation and transportation. The increase is due to a steady growth in urbanization and industrialization across the continent. Notably, countries like Ghana and Nigeria will drive demand with extremely high demand in many semi-urban and rural communities in the countries, Partner and Financial Advisory Leader Deloitte Ghana, Yaw Appiah Lartey, said.

Even though Africa accounts for about eight percent of the global crude production, due to the lack of refining capacity in several parts of the continent, supply of petroleum products will come from other regions, mainly parts of Europe and North America.

According to Lartey, Africa produced more than 7.9 million barrels of crude per day in 2019, representing 9.6 percent of global output. Output has declined from its levels from 2005 and 2010 when Africa produced nearly 10 million barrels daily. The drop was caused by lower global oil prices, however output stabilized between 2015 and 2019.

Five countries in the continent, Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, Libya and Egypt are among the top 30 oil producing countries in the world.