Petroleum production in Africa for 1958 established a new all-time high of 31,930,880 bbls. which represents an increase of 72% over 1957. Egypt alone recorded a 33% increase in its production over the preceding year, and Egypt still dominates the production picture. However, Egyptian production represented only 69% of the Africa total in 1958, in contrast to a figure of almost 90% in 1957. Gabon, Algeria, and Nigeria were largely responsible for this change.

One hundred forty-one exploratory wells were completed in Africa in 1958, of which 18% were successful. Eight discoveries were reported from Nigeria, 6 from Algeria, 4 from Libya, 3 from Gabon, 2 from Egypt, and 1 each in Angola and Morocco. Exploratory wells were completed but without success in Cameroun, Congo, Madagascar, Senegal, Somalia, British Somaliland, and Tunisia. One hundred ninety-one development wells were completed during the year, 74% of which were successful. A total of 2,214,392 ft. of hole was drilled in Africa in 1958, and at the end of the year 90 rigs were in operation.

Geological-geophysical exploratory work was particularly extensive in Algeria, Libya, Madagascar, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, and Somalia. Party-months of various types of exploratory work for the whole of Africa were as follows: surface geology--629, seismograph--774, gravity--313, ground magnetometer--70, air-borne magnetometer--11, and structure drill--66. These represent all-time highs for surface geology, seismograph, gravity and magnetometer operations.