The Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors and its partners have underscored the need to balance investment attraction and fiscal intake to improve investment in the upstream sector of the petroleum industry.
This to ensure that the country takes advantage of its petroleum resources to enhance socio-economic development.
According to the Chamber, Ghana’s hydrocarbon potential has been under-explored.
This was contained in the 2019 Ghana petroleum industry report launched in Accra.
In the report, in 2006 and 2019, Ghana signed 18 petroleum agreements with independent companies to explore and produce oil and gas. Almost all of them were negotiated and ratified under PNDC Law 84, with the exception of Springfield West Cape Three Points (Block 2), ENI Ghana Exploration and Production Limited, BLOCK 4 and SWAOCO Onshore/Offshore Keta Delta Block, which were ratified in 2016.
Three of the blocks out of the 18 Deep Water Tano, West Cape Three Points and Offshore Cape Three Points are currently producing.
In 2018, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Ghana Ltd. acquired the rights to operate the Deep-Water Cape Three Points block.
Fourteen of the Petroleum Agreements cover exploratory and non-producing blocks. Fourteen of these contracts are in the western basin and the remainder are in the Keta Basin.
Despite the number of available active contracts, Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors and its partners believe Ghana’s hydrocarbon potential is seriously under-explored. The report shows that even in the busy areas of the western basin, the existing contracts constitute about 20 percent of the over 36,000 square kilometres of offshore and 103,600 square kilometres of onshore acreages.
In view of this, the report is calling for more investment in the sector to ensure more discoveries.
