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West Africa.

Article Excerpt
The North Sea will eventually be overtaken by African oil production, which is now averaging about 3.5m b/d and should exceed 7m b/d by 2010. With the exception of Nigeria, whose output capacity is set to reach 4.1m b/d by 2007, the other West African countries are outside OPEC. But Nigeria could leave OPEC if does not get a higher production quota and if 450,000 b/d of deep-water oil output is not excluded from the quota (see Gas Market Trends No. 23).

From $2 bn spent in 2001 in West Africa's deep waters, investment will rise to $5 bn by 2004 and could double in a short time. Over the next four to six years, US companies including ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco and Amerada Hess will invest roughly $2-3 bn a year collectively. European companies, including Total, BP, Statoil, Norsk Hydro and Shell, will spend $3-4 bn a year. A combined total could soon reach $6-7 bn a year.

West African reserves are forecast to reach 40 bn barrels by 2010. But one estimate of total African reserves of 80 bn barrels is a fraction of the 650-700 bn barrels in the Middle East.

A decade ago, at a time when places like the Ivory Coast and Equatorial Guinea were being largely ignored by the majors in favour of proven mega-sources like Nigeria and Angola - and when their drilling sites could thus be leased for a relative song - Joe Bruso helped put these states back on the map. Bruso was part of a small team working for United...