Africa's upstream to feel transition squeeze
The continent’s oil production will decline in the 2020s while gas production will increase before starting to slip, according to the IEA
African crude output will decline this decade while gas production will make short-term gains before also starting to fall, according to the IEA’s Africa Energy Outlook 2022. The agency’s projections are based on a “sustainable Africa scenario”, in which the continent meets all of its energy-related development goals—including universal access to power by 2030 and the various national net-zero pledges and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) goals—and the rest of the world follows suit. But the IEA admits that “making this scenario a reality is a formidable task”. Export dependency The prospects for Africa’s oil production “hinge primarily on exports”, the IEA emphasises, and so are “gre
Also in this section
6 March 2026
The March 2026 issue of Petroleum Economist is out now!
6 March 2026
After Europe’s rapid buildout of floating LNG import capacity, Exmar CEO Carl-Antoine Saverys says future growth in floating gas infrastructure will increasingly be driven by developing markets as lower prices, rising energy demand and the need to replace coal unlock new opportunities for unconventional and tailor-made solutions
5 March 2026
Gas is a central pillar of Colombia’s energy system, but declining production poses a significant challenge, and LNG will be increasingly needed as a stopgap. A recent major offshore gas discovery offers hope, but policy improvements are also required, Camilo Morales, secretary general of Naturgas, the Colombian gas association, tells Petroleum Economist
4 March 2026
The continent’s inventories were already depleted before conflict erupted in the Middle East, causing prices to spike ahead of the crucial summer refilling season






