Western fears over Chinese and other Asian oil companies’ recent thrust into Africa are “highly exaggerated”, according to a study that dismisses the idea that Africa’s main oil exporters are weak states being ruthlessly exploited.

The report by the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House catalogues the errors of state-owned and private oil companies from China, India, Japan and South Korea attempting to negotiate the politics of Africa’s two principal oil producers, Nigeria and Angola.