Africa's position shift in world oil supply pattern
非洲在世界石油供给格局中的地位演变

In the 21st century,Africa has been a strategic place for major oil importers seeking to diversify imports in order to achieve greater oil security,and also Africa has been the second biggest source for China,so that analyses of Africa's position shift in world oil supply pattern could help us to get a better understanding of Africa's advantages and disadvantages in the oil supply,in order to optimize China's strategy for oil cooperation with Africa.In this paper,boxplots and spatial cluster analysis are integrated,together with modified share and rank analysis,to examine and compare Africa's positions and their shift in the patterns of world oil proved reserves,oil production,reserves-to-production ratio,and exports.The results show that,Africa is the most concentrated area of oil supplying countries besides Middle East,and with the supersession of the old by the new,its overall supply position is relatively steady or even promoted;Africa's relative advantages in world oil supply pattern are its high reserves-to-production ratio and high export ratio,so that it is one of the key areas to provide sustained growth of oil production and export in the future;Africa has gradually penetrated the world's heartland of oil supply,and its oil geopolitical importance is enhanced greatly;in the long-term perspective,Africa will still be one of the major oil sources for China,and China should promote diverse strategies to Africa and enter Africa's core oil market,in order to enlarge supply,and achieve risk diversification.