Trócaire has called on leading oil companies to do more to relieve Africa's poverty by investing greater revenues in its people.
The aid agency says oil has proved a "curse" for many poor Africans who have failed to share in the wealth it has generated.
The influential players in oil development and consumption should take the lead in reversing the misery found amidst great natural resource wealth, it says.
A new report by CRS, Trócaire's sister organisation in the US, argues that politicians and international financial institutions have a "unique opportunity" to lift "the curse of poverty" linked to oil development in many African countries.
Sub-Saharan African governments will receive more than $200 billion in oil revenues over the coming decade, or more than three times the amount of aid the Third World receives each year. This money could be spent on improving the lives of millions of people, Trócaire's director, Mr Justin Kilcullen, said yesterday.
"Ordinary Africans will see no such improvements so long as revenues generated by the oil boom continue to be piped into governments that lack transparency and accountability," he said.
