Top 5 African Countries That Produced The Most Oil In March 2025
According to the OPEC Secretariat statistics, the price of the OPEC basket of twelve crudes, made up of several African countries was $66,35 per barrel on Friday, up from $66,41 the day before.
This decline is in line with the recent global crude trajectory, which has seen the price of the resource crash significantly, given Donald Trump’s recent tariff policy.
The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) includes the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Djeno (Congo), Zafiro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basrah Medium (Iraq), Kuwait Export, Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE), and Merey (Venezuela).
As per OPEC’s recent report, “in March, the OPEC Reference Basket (ORB) value declined by $2.81, or 3.7%, m-o-m, to average $74.00/b.”
Given the recent development, the global oil demand growth projection for the year has been revised somewhat lower, to 1.3 mb/d year on year.
This slight revision according to OPEC’s report is primarily a result of the received 1Q25 data and the anticipated impact on oil consumption from newly announced US tariffs.
“Looking at transportation fuels, global jet/kerosene demand is forecast to grow by about 0.5 mb/d, y-o-y, each in 2Q25, 3Q25, and 4Q25,” the report states.
“Similarly, gasoline demand is projected to grow by about 0.5 mb/d, y-o-y, each in 2Q25, 3Q25, and 4Q25. Diesel is expected to increase by 0.1 mb/d, y-o-y, in 2Q25 and by about 0.2 mb/d, y-o-y, each in 3Q25 and 4Q25,” it adds.
Furthermore, stronger purchasing activity ahead of the summer season helped Europe’s jet fuel markets stabilize, but increased demand for exports to Africa amid a shortage of timely European gasoil supply has caused gasoil margins to soar in recent weeks.
As for Africa’s largest oil producer, given the exemptions for oil and gas and Nigeria’s modest exposure to US trade, it is expected that the new US tariffs, notably on Nigerian oil and gas exports, will have little effect on the country’s economy.
“Inflation continues to decline, though a weaker naira could slow the drop in price pressures. Nigeria’s public debt has risen, but rising oil production will help its fiscal position, even if lower oil prices may be a concern.” OPEC’s report states.
With that said, here are the African countries with the highest oil production last month in thousand barrels per day (tb/d).
Compared to last month’s list, production volume for Nigeria, Libya, Algeria and Gabon, all expreienced slight decline.
Congo for this month stands as the only country on the list to record an increase in oil production.
| Rank | Country | DoC crude oil production based on secondary sources, tb/d | Change between March and February |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Nigeria | 1,515 | -25 |
| 2. | Libya | 1,262 | -22 |
| 3. | Algeria | 912 | -2 |
| 4. | Congo | 259 | 1 |
| 5. | Gabon | 222 | -1 |
