By Vijay Jayaraj
Nations once relegated to the margins of economic discourse are now sprinting toward prosperity, their trajectories propelled by a single, unifying force: energy.
Energy is indispensable. From the huge AI data centers in the U.S. to the mega-scale manufacturing factories in China, affordable and dependable energy supplies make all the difference between living and thriving.
Access to domestic energy resources – or the ability to secure imports – unlocks a cascade of opportunity: Jobs multiply, infrastructure rises, and governments gain the fiscal muscle to invest in their people.
Oil and gas, derided by climate elites as relics of a bygone era, are proving instead to be the engines of a new dawn. A cohort of nations is charting a radically different course fueled by the unyielding pragmatism of hydrocarbon exploitation.
Guyana: From Obscurity to Oil Juggernaut
Nestled along South America’s northern coast, Guyana was once an afterthought in global economic discourse. Today, it is the world’s fastest-growing economy, with gross domestic product (GDP) skyrocketing by a staggering 63% in 2022 and 38% in 2023. It is projected to grow another 27% this year.
Guyana’s growth leaves even the vaunted “Asian Tigers” – Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan – in the dust. By 2025, analysts project a still-robust expansion of more than 14%, driven by the relentless output of the Stabroek Block, 6.6 million acres of oil reserves off the country’s Atlantic shoreline. The 2015 Liza discovery, a 10-billion-barrel bonanza, has transformed this nation of 810,000 into an energy powerhouse.
The fiscal windfall – $2.57 billion in 2024 alone – has funded infrastructure upgrades, healthcare expansions and education reforms. As Upstream Online reports, Guyana’s per capita income has quadrupled since 2019, a feat unimaginable without oil.
Niger: Africa’s Pipeline to Prosperity
Half a world away, in the arid expanses of West Africa, Niger is scripting a similar tale. Long known for uranium and subsistence farming, this landlocked nation is poised to ride an oil boom that could redefine its future.
The key? The Niger-Benin pipeline, a 1,212-mile conduit that promises to ferry crude from Niger’s Agadem Rift Basin to the Atlantic coast. After diplomatic hiccups with Benin were resolved in August 2024, production was expected to surge past 110,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the coming years. GDP is forecast to soar as a result.
Senegal: Gas Lights the Way Forward
Further west, Senegal is joining the energy-driven renaissance. The Sangomar oil field, which began production in June 2024, and the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) natural gas project, straddling the Senegal-Mauritania border, are rewriting the nation’s economic playbook.
In 2024, the Sangomar field exceeded its initial target, producing 16.9 million barrels of crude oil compared to the planned 11.7 million. With oil output exceeding 100,000 bpd and GTA is poised to deliver liquefied natural gas (LNG) to global markets, Senegal’s GDP growth is projected to hit double digits in 2025, among the highest in Africa.
Senegal’s GDP growth was around 10% in 2024, and energy exports were projected to account for 30% of government revenue in 2025. Crucially, gas-fired power plants are slashing electricity costs, enabling industries to thrive.
Côte D’Ivoire: Diversification Through Hydrocarbons
Côte D’Ivoire, long reliant on cocoa and coffee, is emerging as West Africa’s quiet energy giant. The country has exceeded initial estimates for production from its Baleine oil and gas field.
Oil production has doubled since 2020 to 60,000 bpd, while natural gas – supplying 72% of the nation’s electricity – has lured industries from across the region. The country plans to reach 200,000 barrels of oil per day and 450 million cubic feet of gas daily by 2028.
Thanks to rapid oil and gas development, Cote d’Ivoire has managed to reduce its poverty rate from 55% in 2011 to 37% in 2021 (the latest data available). With oil output projected to more than triple in the next four years, the poverty rate could drop to single digits.
Energy poverty, not climate change, remains the immediate threat to these regions and continues to plague the future of millions of Africans and South Americans. Solar panels and windmills cannot power steel mills, factories or cities.
The governments of Guyana, Niger, Senegal and Côte D’Ivoire understand this. They are prioritizing their citizens’ livelihoods over “carbon-reduction” targets drafted by so-called elites in Brussels or New York.
Their success exposes the vacuity of net-zero dogma and reaffirms a timeless truth: Energy abundance is the foundation of human progress.
This commentary was first published at RealClearEnergy on April 1, 2025.
Vijay Jayaraj is a Science and Research Associate at the CO2 Coalition, Arlington, Virginia. He holds an M.S. in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, both in the U.K., and a bachelor’s in engineering from Anna University, India.
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Supply of reliable energy has always been a precursor to development of modern society.
Those countries that have disrupted their reliability of energy supply will end up as third world status sooner or later…
… particularly if they keep importing huge numbers of third world people.
they may go back
This is really good news.
A lot of hype here. Guyana will do well. But Niger’s speculated 110000 bpd is worth, delivered to market, about 33 cents/day per capita, and the folks of Niger won’t see much of that. Senegal’s 100000 bpd is about 42 cents/day, and Côte D’Ivoire’s maybe 200000 bpd about 47 cents per cap. I hope they will get some good part of that, but it isn’t an economic miracle.
Yeah all they need to do is borrow money to build a few wind turbines and solar panels and that is sure to improve there GDP and economy.
We could point out 33cents per day is around $10 in Niger to country where the average monthly wage is $85-$100 so a 10% rise per month but that isn’t enough for our green man Nick.
I said it isn’t an economic miracle. Put another way, 110,000 bpd (sometime in the coming year) is about 3 billion USD/year. Niger’s GDP is about $43 billion. So it’s something, but not a miracle.
Perplexity.ai tells me that Niger’s GDP is around $17 Billion, so a $3 Billion increase in GDP would instantly kick the arse of a struggling economy, let’s say Australia with its 2% projected GDP increase. Technically though, you are correct – the heavens did not open up and the Messiah did not come down and miraculously increase Niger’s GDP. Oh those quirks of the English language.
For me, perplexity gives one estimate of $19B, onre of $80B. But that is a maybe $3B increase, maybe some time in the future.
Whether it is an economic miracle is a matter of opinion. There is no objective definition of an economic miracle. What cannot be denied is that the development of these resources is improving the quality of life of people in these countries. That’s all that matters to them. So unless Nick is advocating that these resources should not be developed his comment is immaterial.
It is confusing. One source says according to the World Bank its GDP was $16.67bn dollars in 2023 whilst a graph from the World Bank itself puts it at $49.46 bn. in 2023
Australia Beef trade with USA is about the same $3Billion on our GDP of $1.7Trillion so by your logic that would be nothing … so why are Australia even talking about it.
Mind you Nick from memory you are from Southern Eastern States (NSW or Vic) so you wouldn’t know the value of export dollars and it’s importance.
Western Australia (AUD21.3B), Queensland (AUD10.3B), New South Wales (AUD8.31B), Victoria (AUD3.33B), and South Australia (AUD1.24B)
That is the monthly exports that props up your $1.7Trillion dollar circular economy and $3B a month is the exports per month from Victoria. Still think it’s minor?
$3B in export dollars is not minor and your treatment of it just shows how naive you are.
If you run that logic consider how trivial 10Mbbls/d is relative to Saudi Arabia’s population and you realize that its only $3k/person /yr
Take the oil out and the outcome would be a collapse in the income of the people many times larger
Any reasonable amount of gas and oil is MASSIVE improvement on erratic, expensive supply from wind and solar.
You cannot run or make anything without consistency of energy supply.
It’s more of a ‘miracle’ than what climate alarmists say is an ’emergency’.
The ongoing problem in most of the world is that mining, especially oil and gas, is a State monopoly. So the surface land “owners” have no rights or direct benefits from mining.
I’m sure this article is not on Ed Miliband’s reading list.
The UK might be better served if it were……
We could reverse this article and say that wind/solar are turning economic miracles into poor countries.
Perhaps no more so than in Germany. Here are the miners and former miners of the last hard coal mine in the Ruhr area of Germany singing farewell at its closure in 2018. The song they are singing is the Steigerlied, the anthem of coal miners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUhwJJxpFGY
And this video is about the last day at the coal mine. An understanding of German is helpful but you can see the feeling without it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L7ZaM7F4Hk
The chap at the end says something like, “Without coal, Germany would not be what it is today.”
Well, there can be only one Mecca, but 2nd or 3rd place isn’t bad.
Sad, coal did make Deutschland but sounded like they also were singing goodby. Such dunkel Dummkopfen maybe a reason why I have ancestors that left there almost two centuries ago.My father’s Aunt couldn’t speak English and he went into the first grade the same. Two of their listener’s comments. “Ich habe so geweint and Die Kohle geht…der Schaden bleibt!” Coal goes, pity remains. If Kohle would have meant carbon (Kohlenstoff) wouldn’t be much left for pity.
When will it dawn on UK and German leaders that they should be doing what these nations are doing: Drill, Baby, Drill!
UK and German leaders are more isolated from the rest of the world every day. Don’t they feel lonely being the only ones in the world who think windmills and solar are the future?
Let’s talk long term plans. Does anyone know if we are officially developing fossil fuels today with a view, as their finding costs become too high…to nuclear power…or do we really think solar and wind will do it ? I see a niche for solar being built out to match Air Conditioning loads on hot sunny afternooons…but I see wind as actually detrimental due to the cost of backup power for no-wind situations.
No, they’ve got Nick to keep them company. Small benefit, that.
Guyana will need to divert some of it’s income to defence as the thieving govt. of Venezuela has covetous eye’s on the off-shore fields along their shared border.
Whilst not disagreeing with what you say it is important to note that the dispute over the border has been ongoing since 1962.