Petroleum and natural gas economy in Arab Countries and in Benin, Chad Cameroon, Namibia, Nigeria

This paper gives informations on petroleum and natural gas industry, petroleum market and prices, trade and contracts, prospection and production. In Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco has begun the works to increase the production capacity of the petroleum refinery of Ras Tanura. In Kuwait, the cost of the retrofitting and development programs for the petroleum field is evaluated to 4 milliards $. Several contracts have been signed in Tunisia and in Nigeria for the attribution of exploration permits. A cooperation agreement has been signed, in Taiwan, between Total and Chinese Petroleum Corporation, which allows the establishment of joint ventures for the development of petroleum exploration in Far East. Petroleum exploration has begun in Namibia where Norsk Hydro has achieved the interpretation of seismic studies and will drill a first exploration well. In Egypt, petroleum production is stabilized at a level of 870000 barrels per day and the transport capacity of Sumed pipeline will increase from 80 to 117 millions tons per year in 1994