The energy sector globally took a huge hit in 2022 owing to numerous economic complications that swept through the entire planet.
2022, which was projected to be a where the world rehabilitated completely from the Covid-19 pandemic became defined by the scramble for alternative fuel sources that partially caused inflation rates across the globe to skyrocket.
Europe’s reliance on Russia’s Liquified Natural Gas became a thorn on the side of the continent owing to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The scramble for substitute energy sources didn’t just affect the oil sector alone, but affected entire economies all over the world.
According to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), 2022 saw central banks across the globe revise their monetary policies in an attempt to curb the increasing levels of inflation spurred by the COVID-19 situation in China and the geopolitical developments in Eastern Europe, which both contributed to oil market volatility over the course of the year.
In Africa, countries like Nigeria experienced a sharp decline in its oil production owing to insecurity and vandalism of oil infrastructure. Production numbers declined for months and Nigeria’s oil performance as a whole tanked.
These complications persisted throughout 2022, with global oil production still performing sub-optimally in the last month of the year.
These complications inevitably affected oil prices, and according to an extract from OPEC’s monthly oil report, “crude oil futures prices also dropped in December amid heavy selloffs in futures markets, a decline in major equity markets and elevated volatility, which offset risks related to supply disruption. Worries about the economic and demand outlook amid rising global COVID-19 cases in Asia, especially in China and lower refining margins for gasoline and diesel/gasoil in Europe and the US, weighed on oil prices”
The report further elaborates that crude oil spot prices which fell in December, “were pressured by growing concerns of an economic slowdown in major economies that dampened market sentiment regarding demand outlooks.”
Despite these issues, Africa still remains a key oil contributor on a global scale and oil rich countries within the continent still procured a semblance of the oil quota expected of them.
Below are 5 of the highest producing oil countries in Africa as of December 2022. The figures below represent oil production in thousands of barrels per day (tb/d). Also these figures are based on OPEC’s secondary sources.
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