He was viewed as one of the ultimate political survivors, using corruption, cronyism and lashings of oil money to keep himself at the top for more than 40 years.

Bongo died as French authorities were investigating whether he had used hundreds of millions of dollars of Gabonese public funds to buy dozens of lavish properties in France. Most of the country's 1.5 million citizens live in poverty.

The new president is unlikely to have the luxury of oil money to spread around political opponents for very long.

The African Development Bank said that oil production - estimated at 273,000 barrels of oil per day - dropped in 2008 and would continue on a downward trend unless new deposits are discovered.

Bongo's successor is expected to begin a transition to an economy less dependent on oil.

Gabon's other main exports are timber and manganese. It has also awarded iron ore mining rights to a Chinese-led consortium, which has yet to begin extraction.