Energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie forecasts that world liquids demand will rise 10 million barrels per day between now and 2035. This is despite increasing sales of electric vehicles and the global push for greater fuel efficiency. Francesco Verre, partner at McKinsey & Company, said two of the biggest drivers of the demand for oil in particular was the chemical industry – mostly plastic manufacturing – and the ever-growing aviation industry. “The outlook is that oil will peak in 2033 at around 100 million barrels per day. After 2035 the industry will see huge disruption after which the demand for oil will start to decrease.” Verre estimates that demand for oil will have dropped to around 50 million barrels per day at around 2050. Several African countries attending the recently held Africa Oil Week in Cape Town indicated they were focused on fossil fuels. South Africa’s minister of mineral resources and energy, Gwede Mantashe, said the abundance of coal in Africa could not be ignored, although increasingly new investments would be directed towards more efficient coal technologies including underground coal gasification as well as carbon capture and storage. Other countries with major oil drilling prospects include Gabon, Kenya, the Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda and Sierre Leone. Kevin Dadzie, managing director and group head of Ghana BP, said while Africa remained extremely dependent on fossil fuels the continent was keenly aware of the environmental impact. According to him a fast developing trend was to reduce the costs of the transport sector. “We are seeing a growing demand for low sulphur fuels in African markets,” he said. “East Africa is taking the lead in the move towards low sulphur fuels, while it is a rising trend in West Africa. We are seeing policies being implemented to reduce the sulphur content of fuel, with commitments from Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire. Ghana has already signed such a policy.” Both Dadzie and Verre indicated that gas would play a far bigger role on the continent in the next few years.