The Scramble for African Oil

Africa is the final frontier as far as the world’s supplies of energy (both oil and natural gas) are concerned.

World oil production is only just meeting world demand and old fields are being drained faster that new production can be brought on line. Supplies will be tight for the foreseeable future, so any new source of supply is significant. Most importers are also trying to reduce their dependence on Middle Eastern oil. In the next 10-15 years, most of the new oil entering the world market is going to be coming from African fields because it is only in Africa—and to a lesser extent in the volatile Central Asia region—that substantial new fields have been found and brought into production.

As in the Middle East and the Caspian Sea region before it, Africa is now a target for military intervention by the United States, France, China, and other powers competing to gain control over energy supplies.

In addition to the U.S. aid programs directed at individual countries, the United States is supporting a number of multilateral or regional initiatives aimed at enhancing African states’ internal security capabilities. Typically, these programs are described as being designed to improve anti-terrorism actions in the region or to support international peacekeeping operations, but the skills and techniques being imparted–small unit maneuvers, counter-insurgency, light infantry operations, and so on—are of a sort that could easily be employed in the suppression of ethnic, religious, and sectarian strife. And while relatively modest in dollar terms–that is, when compared to the amounts being spent by the U.S. Defense Department (DoD) in the Middle East and Asia–these efforts represent a significant investment in the African setting, where military expenditures are much smaller.

Washington has used a variety of U.S. security assistance programs to enhance its military influence in Africa, including military sales and other arms transfer programs, military training, U.S. Navy exercises, and the acquisition of basing rights in strategic African countries.

An extensive survey of mainly U.S. military presence in and around Africa at AllAfrica