Africa's Energy Map: Resource-Rich but More Than 560 Million Still Without Power

Africa holds billions of barrels of oil, trillions of cubic metres of gas and supplies much of the cobalt and manganese used in electric vehicle batteries worldwide. This week, energy ministers, investors and oil company executives are gathering in Cape Town for African Energy Week, which runs until October 16. The conference focuses on oil and gas investment, energy finance and ending energy poverty.

The analysis below maps Africa's major oil, gas and mineral deposits, how the continent generates electricity and where people still lack access to the grid.

Africa's oil reserves

Africa has about 125 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, or 7.2 percent of the global total. These are discovered reserves that can be commercially extracted with existing technology but remain underground.

Libya and Nigeria account for nearly 70 percent of the continent's reserves, with 48.4 billion and 36.9 billion barrels respectively. Algeria ranks third with 12.2 billion barrels, followed by Angola with 7.78 billion, South Sudan with 3.75 billion and Egypt with 3.3 billion.

In 2024, Nigeria was Africa's largest oil producer, accounting for about 23 percent of the continent's output. Algeria and Angola followed with roughly 17 percent each, and together the three countries accounted for 56 percent of African oil production. The top five producers accounted for more than 80 percent of total output. Africa as a whole produced 7.6 percent of the world's crude oil, roughly in line with its share of global reserves.

Libya, which holds the continent's largest proven reserves, ranks only fourth in production. Foreign companies including Eni of Italy, TotalEnergies of France and Repsol of Spain operate there, where political disputes and blockades have repeatedly disrupted output.

Natural gas reserves

At the end of 2023, Africa held nearly 18 trillion cubic metres of proven natural gas.

Nigeria and Algeria hold about 58 percent of the total, followed by Mozambique with 2.84 trillion cubic metres, Egypt with 2.21 trillion and Libya with 1.51 trillion.

Algeria and Nigeria are also among Africa's leading gas exporters, while much of Mozambique's reserves, discovered offshore in the 2010s, remain largely untapped.

Critical minerals for the energy transition

Africa supplies much of the minerals used in electric vehicles, batteries and renewable energy technology.

In 2025, African countries accounted for 71.2 percent of global cobalt output and 72.4 percent of manganese output.

Cobalt is used in rechargeable batteries. Manganese is mainly used to strengthen steel, but also features in some EV batteries and in storage batteries for renewable energy.

The Democratic Republic of Congo produces nearly 70 percent of the world's cobalt. Some of it is mined by hand by small-scale diggers, and Amnesty International has documented dangerous, often deadly working conditions at some of the country's mines.

South Africa produces nearly 38 percent of the world's manganese, followed by Gabon with nearly 25 percent. Together with Ghana, the three countries account for 72.4 percent of global output.

Zimbabwe, Africa's largest lithium producer, accounted for 9.6 percent of global output in 2025. Lithium is used in rechargeable batteries that power electric vehicles and store electricity from solar and wind.

Madagascar, Mozambique and Tanzania together produced 222,000 tonnes of natural graphite in 2025, equivalent to 11.9 percent of global output. Graphite is used in the anode of most lithium-ion batteries, as well as in steelmaking, lubricants and pencils.

Which countries generate electricity from renewables?

In 2024, renewables accounted for all electricity generated in Ethiopia and the DR Congo. Uganda, Namibia and Eswatini each generated more than 96 percent from renewables, mainly hydropower.

At the other end, renewables accounted for less than 5 percent in Algeria, Libya, Niger and Tunisia, countries that rely mainly on gas or oil.

Ethiopia's electricity comes mostly from hydropower, led by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, Africa's largest hydropower project. The dam began generating power in 2022 and was officially inaugurated in September 2025.

Where do people have access to electricity?

In 2024, six African countries reported universal electricity access: Algeria, Egypt, Mauritius, Morocco, Seychelles and Tunisia. Their combined population is about 215 million, or roughly 14 percent of Africa's population.

Elsewhere, access rates vary widely. In South Sudan, only 5.4 percent of people have electricity. The figure is 15.6 percent in Malawi and 22.5 percent in the DR Congo, even though the country generates all its electricity from renewables.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, has an access rate of 62.5 percent, meaning about 85 million people are without power, the largest number of any country in the world.

In rural areas, where access rates are far lower than in cities, many families still rely on kerosene lamps, candles or torches to light their homes after dark.

Africa has abundant energy resources, from oil and gas to the minerals driving the global energy transition. Yet according to the World Health Organization, more than 560 million people in sub-Saharan Africa still lack electricity, about 86 percent of the world's total.