Into Africa

FOR decades, the U.S. has poured massive economic, military, and diplomatic resources into developing and securing oil from the Persian Gulf. This effort may have succeeded in guaranteeing (most of the time) affordable oil in the West, but that hasn’t stopped the region from becoming an increasingly hostile cauldron of anti-American dictatorships. The U.S. would be well advised to begin diverting some of its attention to a different gulf—the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, a region that doesn’t attract the headlines of the Middle East or feature an influential cadre of diplomats, journalists, and experts devoted to the idea of its eternal importance, but that can still be a crucial piece of a new global U.S. energy strategy.

After all, the Persian Gulf itself was a developmental backwater as recently as the 1960s, when few could imagine the importance it would attain over the next 30 years. The Gulf of Guinea is in a similar state today, a Third World afterthought primed to become a major market player. With the end of the Cold War, it has a greater openness to the market, making access easier for American companies. Meanwhile, technology unheard of 20 years ago has led to the rapid discovery and exploitation of new sources of oil there. These trends combine with several other features of the region to make West African oil a natural for the U.S.: Much of it is offshore, providing something of a buffer from political instability; it is easily delivered, via a quick jaunt across the Atlantic without straits or canals; and it is low in sulfur, providing the high gasoline yield preferred by U.S. refineries.

About the Author

Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry is the editor in chief of National Review.

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FOR decades, the U.S. has poured massive economic, military, and diplomatic resources into developing and securing oil from the Persian Gulf. This effort may have succeeded in guaranteeing (most of the time) affordable oil in the West, but that hasn’t stopped the region from becoming an increasingly hostile cauldron of anti-American dictatorships. The U.S. would be well advised to begin diverting some of its attention to a different gulf—the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, a region that doesn’t attract the headlines of the Middle East or feature an influential cadre of diplomats, journalists, and experts devoted to the idea of its eternal importance, but that can still be a crucial piece of a new global U.S. energy strategy.

After all, the Persian Gulf itself was a developmental backwater as recently as the 1960s, when few could imagine the importance it would attain over the next 30 years. The Gulf of Guinea is in a similar state today, a Third World afterthought primed to become a major market player. With the end of the Cold War, it has a greater openness to the market, making access easier for American companies. Meanwhile, technology unheard of 20 years ago has led to the rapid discovery and exploitation of new sources of oil there. These trends combine with several other features of the region to make West African oil a natural for the U.S.: Much of it is offshore, providing something of a buffer from political instability; it is easily delivered, via a quick jaunt across the Atlantic without straits or canals; and it is low in sulfur, providing the high gasoline yield preferred by U.S. refineries.