Empirical Comparison of Crude Oil Production of Africa’s Oil Producing Countries with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), 2012-2019

Abstract

The aim of the study was to compare crude oil production of Africa’s oil producing countries for the period 2012 and 20219. The study has established that Africa’s oil producing countries have put up an impressive performance in the area of crude oil production. However, these countries have failed to leverage on their local refineries to meet domestic consumption needs. Over reliance on imported refined oil is not healthy in times of global contingencies. The large export of crude oil by the Africa’s oil producing countries and their inability to embark on aggressive local refining and processing of most of the crude oil produced in their domestic economies for the generation of more employment and wealth for their citizens that forms the motivation for this study. The study is a qualitative one where document studies was adopted in generating data from secondary sources such as academic journals, bulletins, textbooks, scholarly papers, and internet materials. The generated data was analyzed through critical discourse method. The study recommends that political leaderships of these countries should export less or no crude oil, but should rely on strategic local thinking for the local refining of all the crude oil produced in their domestic economies.