By: Rebecca Ekpe
After a decline of 13.2 percent in the previous period, Crude oil production in Ghana for the first half of 2024 showed an appreciable increase by 10.7 percent.
According to the Public Interest Accountability Committee (PIAC), the increase could primarily be due to the coming on stream of the Jubilee South East (JSE) Project.
Background:
Tullow, alongside its joint venture partners Kosmos Energy, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Petro SA and Jubilee Oil Holdings, announced the successful start-up of the Jubilee South East (JSE) Project, offshore Ghana in 2023.
Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, then Energy Minister at Energy said,
“At the Ministry of Energy, we are delighted by this important milestone and wish to congratulate Tullow and the Jubilee partners who have contributed in diverse ways to this journey’’.
Rahul Dhir, Chief Executive Officer, Tullow, for his part said,
“Successful start-up at Jubilee South East is a significant milestone for Tullow and for Ghana…..we are well positioned for future growth with production ramping up in the second half of 2023 that will generate significant free cash flow’’.
PIAC Report:
The 2024 PIAC Semi-annual Report however observes that GNPC Explorco recorded one lifting of 951,903 barrels of crude oil from the Jubilee field valued at US$74,916,669.91. However, this amount has not yet been realised as at the end of the reporting period.
In a related development, total petroleum receipts for the period increased by 55.6 percent from US$540,456,124.27 in H1 2023 toUS$840,765,265.80 in H1 2024 mainly due to increased production for the period.
Crude Oil in Ghana:
There had been conversations about Ghana’s Crude Oil production declining for several years, but in the first six months of 2024, production increased for the first time in five years:
- Decline
Reports show that in 2023, Ghana’s crude oil production decreased by 6.78%, which was the fourth consecutive year of decline. The average annual decline over the past four years was 9.2%. Production fell from 71.44 million barrels in 2019 to 48.25 million barrels in 2023.