Is it more advantageous for a country rich in raw materials to have petrol or water? If there is a lot of petrol in a region, an economy and infrastructure that can process petrol are required to see the economic benefits. But water is the most basic need for human life.
Did you know that Africa, which is notorious to the world for its water problem, is rich in petrol? Africa is the least researched feature in terms of resources and also the least developed in terms of infrastructure. It is a kind of exploration continent or the treasure chest for petrol and gas companies (Panford, 2017). The continent already has this wealth. It was colonized by various European countries for many years, and then the USA, and for 15-20 years, it has become one of the focal points of China (Alden, 2005). Libya is the country with the richest resources in Africa with a reserve of 48.36 billion barrels in 2020. has been. Nigeria follows it with 36.97 billion barrels, while Algeria is the continent’s largest petrol with 12.2 billion barrels of oil. Listed among the richest, the total crude petrol reserve in the same year was 125.8 billion barrels specified.
Petrol reserves and production values of African Continent countries (2016) (Source: British Petroleum (2017b),
ENI 2017a)
Country Proven Petrol Reserve Reserve -Production Petrol Production
(billion barrels) (R/P) Rate (thousand barrels/day)
Libya 48.4 310.1 426
Nigeria 37.1 49.3 2,053
Algeria 12.2 21.1 1,579
Angola 11.6 17.5 1,807
Egypt 3.5 13.7 691
South Sudan 3.5 80.9 118
Gabon 2.0 24.1 227
Kongo 1.6 18.4 238
Sudan 1.5 39.6 104
Chad 1.5 56.1 73
Equatorial Guinea 1.1 10.7 280
Tunisia 0.4 18.4 63
Other Countries 3.7 43.2 233
Total Africa 128.0 44.3 7,892
So why is Africa still have a bad economy?
The African continent, where the world’s greatest empires and civilizations were once located, became the stage of the world theater with the emergence of the triangle or transatlantic trade that started in the 14th century. Subsequently, colonialism, which started in the 19th century, also victimized Africa. These two traumas have inflicted great damage. So that its traces and effects continue to this day (Boumama,
2016, ss. 247-264; Delibaş, 2019, ss. 2-4).
In my opinion, having a petrol reservoir is a great thing but not the most important. However, water is the most important. Humanity will always need water to survive. A few years from now, petrol may be replaced by another substance but nothing can replace water. For this reason, if my country could be rich in raw materials, my preference would be water.
Source:
https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1947982
https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1368989
(https://www.statista.com/statistics/1178147/crude-oil-reserves-in-africa-bycountry/Erişim01.05.2021)