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| Title: | Central Africa: oil and the Franco-American rivalry |
| Author: | Yates, Douglas Andrew |
| Year: | 1998 |
| Periodical: | L'Afrique politique |
| Pages: | 205-225 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | Central Africa France United States |
| Subjects: | foreign policy petroleum oil companies |
| Abstract: | The struggle for control of African mineral resources, in particular oil, has involved the United States and France in a rivalry for influence and control of the Golf of Guinea. In this article the author argues that American penetration into central Africa has provoked a strong French reaction, for it threatens vital French national interests. The operations of Elf Aquitaine and the Total group are examined, and their relationship to French national interests is explored. Then follows a discussion of the current conflicts in Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Congo, and Angola which illustrate the nature of the growing Franco-American rivalry. The recent violent conflicts in central Africa have left the French African oil empire relatively intact, although American corporations have gained a strong foothold in Equatorial Guinea and continue to dominate Angolan oil production, as well as having acquired a slice of the Chadian pie. Nonetheless, it is the French who are expanding their production in those countries more than the Americans. As of 1998, France dominates the petroleum of central Africa. Until that situation changes, it will be up to France to defend its predominant interests in the subregion. Notes, ref., sum. in English and French (p. 13). |
