Effective Management of the Emerging Oil and Gas Industry in Ghana - Research Paper Example

Having made this analysis, recommendations will be given for how Ghana can channel its new mineral wealth into strong economic growth and an improvement in living standards across the country.In the past few decades, West Africa has experienced an oil boom, and in 2005 it was reported that production would double by 2010. A long-term project to build an oil pipeline from landlocked Chad to coastal Cameroon and new explorations for potential oil fields on the Atlantic coast were signs that the region was becoming one of the West’s major oil suppliers.

There is a general consensus that the proven reserves of West Africa are greater than those of either North American or Eastern Europe and Russia, and current major suppliers are Nigeria, Angola, Congo, Gabon and Cameroon. Indeed, Nigeria is the world’s sixth largest provider of oil, and Angola will probably prove to have more oil than Kuwait. In response to increased Western demand for oil, it is expected that Nigeria and Angola, the region’s two biggest producers, will double or even triple their output in the course of the next decade.

During the Cold War, the United States in particularly was heavily engaged in Africa in a strategic and military capacity, as part of its fight against global communism. Its administrations were determined that the Soviet Union would be able to find extensive allies in the region. Economic assistance was offered through the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), both of which are heavily influenced by the United States government.