Abstract
Abstract This paper discusses the development of hydrocarbon reserves discovered onshore and offshore of the continent of Africa up to the start of the year 2000 and the future potential for new discoveries. Over 2400 hydrocarbon discoveries have been made in Africa, of which 700 were producing in significant quantities at the start of 2000. Initial recoverable reserves on these accumulations stood at 160 billion barrels of oil, 500 trillion cubic feet (TCF) gas and 12 billion barrels of condensate, with estimated cumulative production being 59 billion barrels of oil and condensate and up to 50 TCF gas. A similar proportion of the total discovered oil reserves as gas reserves have been found in cratonic basins while passive/rift basins contain more of the oil reserves than the gas reserves. Despite this mix, considerably more gas has been produced from cratonic basins than from the passive/rift basins. In the last decade, deeper-water exploration using 3-D seismic data has resulted in the discovery of significant reserves in deeper waters off West Africa and the Nile Delta. Future reserves growth is expected to be concentrated in the known petroliferous basins.
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