Arc of instability threatens Sahel’s upstream, pipeline ambitions
Coups and geopolitical rivalries complicate energy projects in the expansive region
The Sahel is an extensive, semi-arid zone that spans the African continent south of the Sahara from the Atlantic to the Red Sea coasts. The region’s countries are poor and have been historically isolated, but growing instability in the past few years—most recently with the coup in Niger—demonstrate the Sahel’s geopolitical importance for the competing global powers of the US, Europe, China and Russia. With IOCs and oil and gas projects already impacted by ongoing events in the Sahel, Petroleum Economist looks at what the zone’s precarity might mean for the sector. Amid the panoply of armed insurgents, Islamist groups and smugglers active in the region, there is also mounting ethnic violence

Also in this section
17 February 2025
There is a growing feeling that it will not take much for heavy international hitters to follow the US out of the Paris Agreement
14 February 2025
The start of private LNG imports may trigger an evolution in the country’s policy of energy security to encompass commercial exploitation
13 February 2025
New supply from Argentina, Brazil and Guyana is rich in middle distillates, but optimism in terms of volume growth remains tempered by regulatory and technical risks as well as price volatility
12 February 2025
The oilfield expansion provides a fresh influx of revenue but will strain its cooperation with OPEC+ and fails to mask deeper issues with the economy and investors