Commodity recovery to drive oil markets in Southern Africa

But inadequate infrastructure and inefficient regulatory processes were increasing costs and undermining the security of supply in some countries.

Energy analyst Ross Bruton says that the expansion of the region's downstream market will continue to be driven primarily by the growth in demand for oil products in South Africa, which was already consuming 575 000 bbl/d of crude in 2008. The remaining countries within the region had significantly lower consumption levels of below 30 000 bbl/d in 2008.