BEIJING, Feb. 20 -- Over the past year, African oil has leapt into international attention as world demand increases and price hikes. Along with ever enlarging exploration, extraction and sale, African producers, while gaining considerable profits, also see a series of problems such as environmental pollution, farmland damage and grain shortage. So, people here always show mixed feelings when talking about oil.

    With a proven reserve over 95 billion barrels, about 8 percent of the world total, Africa is the world third largest oil producing area following the Middle East and Latin America. Currently, its daily production of crude oil exceeds 8 million barrels, about 11 percent of the global amount and is expected to reach 15 percent by 2020. In the coming decade, oil production from this continent will rise sharply, with a daily output expected to reach 13 million barrels. Before, major producing countries gathered along the Mediterranean such as Algeria, Libya, Egypt and the Gulf of Guinea such as Nigeria, Angola, Gabon and the Republic of Congo. In recent ten years, producers from Africa south of the Sahara increased in number, including Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Sudan, Sao Tome and Principe, and Mauritania.

    Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa and the world sixth largest crude oil exporter. Currently its proven oil reserve is 35.254 billion barrels, which, according to its national plan, will reach 40 billion barrels by 2010. Most oil from this country comes from the 70,000 sq.km Niger Delta, from where high-quality, low-cost oil is welcomed by international market since the oil bed here is shallow and extraction is easy. The Shell Group is the biggest foreign oil company in Nigeria, with a daily production over 1 million barrels, taking up more than 40 percent of the country; US-based Exxon Mobil Corp. ranks the second and ChevronTexaco the third. There are also Italy-based Agip and France-based Total. These five western companies largely dominate the oil industry of the country.

    Nigeria had been a famous agricultural country of Africa before oil was discovered in the 1960s. But ever since then agriculture has been neglected and oil become the sole economic pillar, which now brings 95 percent of the nation's foreign exchange income and 80 percent of government revenue. For years, uncontrolled exploitation by western oil makers has brought both wealth and disaster to Nigeria. In their pursuit for maximum profits, these companies have always been mean with infrastructure investment and consequently their oil pipelines often crack and leak due to lack of maintenance and replacement.

    Statistics show that the leakage of crude oil in Niger Delta amounts to 10,000 barrels annually. Caught ablaze under the scorching sun, the escaped oil causes frequent farmland and forest fires as well as serious air pollution. It also poisons the earth, kills corps and thus plunges many farmers into deeper poverty. More serious is the contamination of rivers which not only deprives fishermen of their living but causes drinking water shortage. Conflicts between local residents and western oil companies even give rise to violence. There live in the Delta more than 40 tribes, and in their struggle for interest kidnap and murder happen continuously. Western staff is constantly attacked and oil facilities destroyed.

    It is quite right to say that oil has changed the life of Africans, But a change isn't always positive, when crazy exploitation of the West has disrupted the normal life of Africans and brought a string of political, economic and social clashes. Wouldn't it be welcomed and supported by African people if measure is taken to reduce negative effects to a minimum when investment is enlarged?

(Source: People's Daily)