African oil is sweeter and lighter than Middle Eastern crudes and in recent years it has begun to look increasingly desirable. For political reasons, it became especially attractive after 9/11, and today the US imports more oil from Africa than from the entire Persian Gulf. But there is competition: China now imports more than a quarter of its oil from African countries and Angola has overtaken Saudi Arabia to become its chief supplier. In Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil, Nicholas Shaxson argues that these developments are alarming. While the people who live in Africa's big oil-producing countries are getting poorer and angrier, their leaders 'have a rising tide of money at their disposal' and are 'fit for mischief'. He warns of a 'cosy post-colonial complacency' blinding Westerners to the fact that African oil isn't a threat only to the people who live in the countries where it's produced: it's also 'spreading poison deep into the fabric of the international financial system and the rich world's democracies'.

LRB 7 February 2008 | PDF Download