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Oil reserves may be behind Bush`s Africa visit: Analysts
Washington, July 03: The politics of oil may be behind the decision of US President George W Bush to tour Africa next week, analysts said today.
Washington, July 03: The politics of oil may be behind the decision of US President George W Bush to tour Africa next week, analysts said today.
"The potential new Saudi Arabia is West Africa's Gulf of
Guinea, a resource-rich region that has little of the anti-US
baggage of Saudi Arabia but already sends the United States
roughly as much oil," columnist Rich Lowry writes in 'The
Washington Times'.
The region is anchored by Nigeria, the world's sixth largest oil exporter and fifth-ranked provider of crude to the United States.
Much of West African oil is offshore, providing something of a buffer from political instability. It is easily delivered to the US across the Atlantic and it is low in sulfur, providing the high gasoline yield preferred by US refineries.
General Charles Wald, deputy commander of the US-European command, pointed out that eight to 14 per cent of US oil needs are met from Nigeria, and the figure may jump to 25 per cent.
"All of a sudden," he told reporters, "the west coast of Africa becomes an area of strategic interest, and you start saying to yourself, 'I'd like to have some forward bases in Africa.'"
Paul Michael Wihbey, who heads the Washington-based Centre for Strategic Resources Policy, says the US should declare the area a vital national interest.
That would be a prelude to creating a sub-regional command with its home port in Sao Tome and Principe, a tiny oil-rich island nation in the middle of the Gulf of Guinea, he said.
Bush starts his Africa visit on Monday.
Bureau Report
The region is anchored by Nigeria, the world's sixth largest oil exporter and fifth-ranked provider of crude to the United States.
Much of West African oil is offshore, providing something of a buffer from political instability. It is easily delivered to the US across the Atlantic and it is low in sulfur, providing the high gasoline yield preferred by US refineries.
General Charles Wald, deputy commander of the US-European command, pointed out that eight to 14 per cent of US oil needs are met from Nigeria, and the figure may jump to 25 per cent.
"All of a sudden," he told reporters, "the west coast of Africa becomes an area of strategic interest, and you start saying to yourself, 'I'd like to have some forward bases in Africa.'"
Paul Michael Wihbey, who heads the Washington-based Centre for Strategic Resources Policy, says the US should declare the area a vital national interest.
That would be a prelude to creating a sub-regional command with its home port in Sao Tome and Principe, a tiny oil-rich island nation in the middle of the Gulf of Guinea, he said.
Bush starts his Africa visit on Monday.
Bureau Report