Bodman: Africa Increasing in Strategic Energy Importance

U.S Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Friday that Africa – one of the fastest growing petroleum regions in the world – was of growing strategic energy importance to the U.S., particularly as it tries to diversify its supply of oil and gas.

…Any hopes the U.S. may have to loosen some of the control the OPEC cartel has on the crude market through increased oil development of Africa’s crude and natural gas production may have been diminished by an announcement earlier this week by Angola that it wishes to join OPEC.

Angola, sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest oil producer behind Nigeria, is a key area for near-term petroleum production growth on the continent.

Companies such as Chevron Corp. (CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) have pumped in billions of dollars to exploit the country’s oil-rich fields, lifting output 1.4 million barrels of oil equivalent a day. That’s expected to rise to two million barrels by 2008, with the ramp-up of several large offshore projects, according to the Energy Information Administration.

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