Oil will remain the world’s leading energy source for the next half century at least as society’s craving for energy is insatiable. Demand will rise from 79 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2003 increasing to 121 million bpd by the year 2025. Global refining capacity in total cannot meet demand which has risen by a global Average of 5.5% per annum since 2002. Refining capacity has-virtually-remained stagnant and at best any increases are as a result of “capacity creep” and expansions to existing plants (with the exception of three new world scale refineries being built in Asia, and South East Asia for supply to the markets in the eastern hemisphere). World Demand is growing and simply outstripping Refining Capacity regardless of oil production capability.
The ultra-modern new refineries in Africa will supply the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS – Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo), Southern African Development Community (SADC – Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Seychelles and Madagascar), North and South America as well as Europe.
