Ghana's Energy Industry

Ghana: An Attractive Climate

Ghana’s oil and gas industry rose into significance upon the discovery of massive deposits in its offshore Jubilee field, which began production in 2010. Since then, satellite discoveries have been made on Ghana’s five sedimentary basins, significantly increasing the small African country’s importance among the continent’s oil and gas producers. However, Ghana remains less reliant on its hydrocarbons production than its Sub-Saharan African neighbours such as Nigeria, Angola and Gabon, with gold as its largest export and its services sector representing around half of the country’s GDP.

The hydrocarbons industry is supervised by the Petroleum Commission, which oversees upstream bid rounds and enforces state guidelines surrounding oil and gas production. The sector is dominated by state-run Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, created in 1983 to champion activities in the upstream sector. International E&P companies have joined the country in developing its upstream assets, including Tullow Oil, ExxonMobil and Aker Energy. The market is seen as attractive due to low lifting prices and a stable political environment.

The government set up the privately run Ghana Gas Company in 2011 to build, own and operate infrastructure required for gathering, processing, transporting and marketing the nation’s gas resources. The company has actively developed Ghana’s successful downstream sector, which now looks to supply gas to rural areas, lower the use of diesel and heavy fuel oils in power generation and electrify the entire country. Ghana aims to become a gas trading hub for West Africa through its LNG terminal in Tenma and related infrastructure but is met with stiff competition from the region.

“Since the discovery of commercial quantities of oil in Ghana, the government has tried to expand Ghanaians’ participation in the oil industry, in both the upstream and downstream sectors,” Ghanaian Minister of Energy Matthew Opoku Prempeh told The Energy Year. “There’s been a huge agenda on capacity building for Ghanaians, including localisation of contracts and subcontracts, where local contractors participate in various fields. It’s not just about IOCs coming in to explore and produce.”