Mauritania is also set to emerge as a key energy producer. It’s partnering with Senegal in the Gulf of Guinea on a project that could yield up to 10mn tonnes of liquefied gas a year.
The world’s longest heated crude oil pipeline is close to completion between Uganda and Tanzania. It will carry Ugandan crude to the Indian Ocean and could transform both African countries into major oil economies.
Significant oil and gas discoveries have also been made in Mozambique, Kenya, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad.
It’s creating a dilemma for the EU. The bloc is desperate to replace Russian energy, and is looking to Africa. But it also has beef with the continent.
For example, Uganda’s pipeline is facing EU resistance over alleged rights violations and damage to the environment. Yet Africans accuse Europe of hypocrisy.
Why hypocrisy? Firstly, because Africa’s share of emissions is tiny compared with Europe’s. Secondly, because the EU does business with human-rights violators like Saudi Arabia.
The biggest question is whether all this new oil and gas exploration will translate into major benefits for the people of Africa. Will the ‘resource curse’ plaguing the continent finally be broken?
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This is the story of how Belgium’s Leopold II colonised, exploited, murdered, enslaved and maimed the people of the Congo - and how Brussels’ dark past is catching up with it today.
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