Africa
The African region includes the African continent and adjacent islands. Among regions, Africa ranks fourth in world crude oil reserves. Africa is the second-largest crude oil exporter and will continue to increase exports through 2030.
Refining in the region is of very low complexity and operations are at low utilization levels. Product exports (mainly to North America and Europe) consist primarily of naphtha and residual fuels because the region’s refineries lack sufficient conversion capacity to upgrade these materials. Low refinery utilization is partially attributable to the low depth of refining, poor equipment reliability and ongoing war and civil unrest in many areas.