Oil and Gas Supply Chains in Africa: Structure, Actors, and Flow of Materials

Abstract

Purpose: This paper evaluates the oil and gas sector in Africa through a supply chain approach, arguing that developmental performance is shaped not by resource endowment alone but by the interaction between chain structure, actor power, and material flows.

Methodology: The article deploys the qualitative study of secondary data based on the synthesis approaches to trace the transnational material flows using the upstream, midstream and downstream segments and firmly imprints a comparative case study of Nigeria, Mozambique and Algeria. These illustrations depict how different formations of the actors and infrastructure constructions produce different flow effects such as extensive leakage and reliance on imports and more centralized but stringent control.

Findings: The findings show that the partial governance and underperforming midstream integration bring about a massive loss of value in form of flaring, theft, bottlenecks, and circular trade structures. Formation of enclaves and export-oriented economical organization diminishes national inter-relatedness, and lack of undercapacity in the downstream will guarantee dependence on imported refined products. More unified systems achieve a tradeoff between sovereignty and efficiency. Overall, there is no correspondence between the formal possession of the resources and their efficient management in terms of development

Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice, and Policy: The article also contributes to the scholarship on extractive industry by creating an interdisciplinary flow of flow, which relates the aspects of governance and political economy to the embodied realities of logistics and infrastructure. The policy implications are based on the fact that the country should not just leave on fiscal policies but should go to the extent of integrating supply chain, governing infrastructure and having institutional capability. To the companies, the research indicates hazards of failing to analyze risks in ecosystem-based analysis which extends beyond a project to a whole supply chain.