15-Years Ago Three African Countries Were Among China’s Top Oil Suppliers, Today Only One’s Left

Amid the ongoing discussions surrounding African debt restructuring and the proposed multibillion-dollar China-Iran comprehensive partnership agreement, China’s oil procurement is a through-line that binds some of these disparate issues together.

After all, Angola accounts for approximately a third of Africa’s entire bilateral debt to China. So if one strips out the oil-backed loans to Luanda, the issue of Chinese debt in Africa looks a lot more manageable (admittedly, it does vary widely depending on the country).

Similarly, one of the issues that we’ve been discussing at length in this newsletter over the past several weeks is the long-term shift in Chinese oil procurement. In the mid-2000s, when China’s “Going Out Policy” was gaining momentum, Africa was a key oil source. Back then, three countries: Angola, Republic of Congo, and the former Sudan, were all top ten suppliers.

Today, that is no longer the case as Chinese oil buying has shifted away from Africa towards the Persian Gulf and the Americas (Brazil and Venezuela).

While there are obvious economic ramifications of this shift away from Africa towards the Middle East/Persian Gulf, there will also be political consequences. Going forward, Africa will no longer be indispensable as an oil trading partner and this will likely usher in a new era where Beijing will place more emphasis on China-Africa political ties rather than its traditional focus on economic engagement.

Read more on China’s oil sourcing in The Wire China.

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The post 15-Years Ago Three African Countries Were Among China’s Top Oil Suppliers, Today Only One’s Left appeared first on The China Africa Project.



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