The petroleum industry of

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

is regulated by the state-owned

Ghana National Petroleum Corporation The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) is a state agency responsible for the exploration, licensing, and distribution of petroleum-related activities in Ghana. History GNPC is Ghana's National Oil Company (NOC) which was established in ...

(GNPC) and administered by the state-owned

Ghana Oil Company GOIL PLC formerly known as GOIL Company Limited (GOIL) and Ghana Oil Company and also known as GOIL, is a state-owned Ghanaian oil and gas marketing company, formed on 14 June 1960. Currently it holds the place of Ghana's top oil marketing compa ...

(GOIL).

Petroleum and natural gas production

1970s–1980s

The 100% state-owned

filling station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

company of Ghana,

(GOIL) is the number 1 petroleum and gas filling station of Ghana; and commercial quantities of offshore

oil reserves An oil is any chemical polarity, nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobe, hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilicity, lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable ...

in Ghana were discovered in the 1970s. In 1983 the government established the 100% state-owned state oil company

(GNPC) to promote

hydrocarbon exploration Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for hydrocarbon deposits, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth's crust using petroleum geology. Exploration methods ...

and production of Ghana's entire

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

reserves.Clark, Nancy L. "Petroleum Exploration".
A Country Study: Ghana
' (La Verle Berry, editor).

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Federal Research Division The Federal Research Division (FRD) is the research and analysis unit of the United States Library of Congress. The Federal Research Division provides directed research and analysis on domestic and international subjects to agencies of the Unite ...

(November 1994). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

Lcweb2.loc.gov
'' These GNPC prospected in ten offshore blocks between

Ada Ada may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle'', a novel by Vladimir Nabokov Film and television * Ada, a character in 1991 movie '' Armour of God II: Operation Condor'' * '' Ada... A Way of Life'', a 2008 Bollywo ...

along the eastern

international border Borders are generally defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ...

of Ghana and in the

Tano River The Tano or Tanoé River ( French: ''Rivière Tano'') is a river in Ghana. It flows for 400 kilometres from a town called Traa, a suburb of Techiman, the capital town of Bono East Region of the Republic of Ghana to Ehy Lagoon, Tendo Lagoon and fin ...

Basin and in the

Keta Keta is a coastal town and the capital of the Keta Municipal District in the Volta Region of Ghana. Keta was an important trading post between the 14th and the late 20th centuries. The town attracted the interest of the Danish, because they fe ...

Basin. In 1989, GH₵64.9 million (US$30 million) was spent drilling wells in the Tano basin, and on 21 June 1992, an offshore Tano basin well produced about of

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring u ...

daily.

1990s

In the early 1990s, GNPC reviewed all earlier crude oil and natural gas discoveries to determine whether a predominantly local operation might make exploitation more commercially viable. GNPC wanted to set up a floating system for production, storage, off-loading, processing, and

gas-turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the direction of flow: ...

electricity generation, hoping to produce per day, from which 135 megawatts of power could be generated and fed into the national and regional grid. GNPC also signed a contract in 1992 with

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

's state oil company,

Sonangol Group Group Sonangol () is a parastatal that formerly oversaw petroleum and natural gas production in Angola. The group consisted of Sonangol E.P. () and its many subsidiaries. The subsidiaries generally had Sonangol E.P. as a primary client, along wit ...

, that provides for drilling and, ultimately, production at two of Sonangol's offshore

oilfields A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presenc ...

. GNPC was paid with a share of the crude oil. The Tema Oil Refinery in Ghana underwent the first phase of a major rehabilitation in 1989. The second phase began in April 1990 at an estimated cost of GH₵77.8 million (US$36 million). Once rehabilitation was completed, distribution of

liquified petroleum gas Liquefied petroleum gas, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, ''n''-butane and isobutane. It can also contain some propyl ...

was to be improved, and the quantity supplied was to rise from 28,000 to 34,000 barrels per day. Construction on the new Tema-

Akosombo Akosombo is a small town in the south of the Asuogyaman District, Eastern Region, Ghana with notable street names of some African countries in the sub-region like Ghana, Congo, Namibia, Lagos-town, and Freetown. It is occupied by people of ...

oil products pipeline, designed to improve the distribution system further, began in January 1992. The pipeline was to carry refined products from

Tema Tema is a city on the Bight of Benin and Atlantic coast of Ghana. It is located east of the capital city; Accra, in the region of Greater Accra, and is the capital of the Tema Metropolitan District. As of 2013, Tema is the eleventh most p ...

to Akosombo Port, where they will be transported across

Lake Volta Lake Volta (), the largest artificial reservoir in the world based on surface area, is contained behind the Akosombo Dam which generates a substantial amount of Ghana's electricity. It is completely within the country of Ghana and has a surface ...

northern regions ''Northern Regions; Or, A Relation of Uncle Richard's Voyages for the Discovery of a North-west Passage'' is a children's adventure novel published in 1825 by John Harris that recounts four British Arctic expeditions from the early 19th century. ...

. Distribution continued to be uneven. Other measures to improve the situation included a GH₵60.5 million (US$28 million) project to set up a national network of storage depots in all

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

. The Tema Lube Oil Company commissioned its new oil blending plant, designed to produce 25,000 tons of oil per year, in 1992. The plant was to satisfy both North Ghana and Ghana's requirements for motor and gear lubricants and 60% of the country's need for industrial lubricants, or, in all, 90% of Ghana's demand for lubricant products. Shareholders per equity included state-owned Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, and the 100% state-owned national insurance company,

Social Security and National Insurance Trust The Social Security and National Insurance Trust is an agency of the government of Ghana. Its job description, according to itwebsite is to administrate the National Pension Scheme. In so doing, the trust owns major amounts of stock in Ghana's ...

(SSNIT).

2000s

Ghana's Jubilee Oilfield which contains up to of

sweet crude oil Sweet crude oil is a type of petroleum. The New York Mercantile Exchange designates petroleum with less than 0.5% sulfur as ''sweet''. Petroleum containing higher levels of sulfur is called sour crude oil. Sweet crude oil contains small amounts ...

was discovered in 2007, among the many other oilfields in Ghana.

Oil and gas exploration Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for hydrocarbon deposits, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth's crust using petroleum geology. Exploration methods ...

in Ghana is ongoing, and the amount of both crude oil and natural gas continues to increase. Real estate projects such as Petronia City have begun in hopes of integrating new infrastructures in Ghana and taking advantage of this discovery.

2010s

The Ghanaian government, indicated that the country could expand its reserves up to of oil in reserves within a few years.McLure, Jason
Ghana Oil Reserves to Be in 5 years as fields develop

Bloomberg Television Bloomberg Television (on-air as Bloomberg) is an American-based pay television network focusing on business and capital market programming, owned by diversified information and media private company Bloomberg L.P. It is distributed globally, re ...

. Wednesday, 1 December 2010. The expected annual tremendous inflow of capital from crude oil and natural gas production into the Ghana economy began from the first quarter of 2011 when Ghana started producing crude oil and natural gas in commercial quantities in 2011. At the end of 2012, declining productivity at one of the country's largest oil projects, the Jubilee oil field, led to a decline in revenues for the government, who had budgeted for oil revenue of more than $650 million. The corresponding shortfall was more than $410 million. The oil firm blamed the decline on “sand contamination of the flowlines that carry the oil from the underwater wells” into the storage facility on the surface. In the first and second financial quarters of 2013, Ghana produced 115,000-200,000

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden stave (wood), staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers ...

s of crude oil per day and 140 million-200 million

cubic feet The cubic foot (symbol ft3 or cu ft)
, . is an natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

per day. The 100% Iranian state-owned oil companies

National Iranian Oil Company The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC; ) is a government-owned national oil and natural gas producer and distributor under the direction of the Ministry of Petroleum of Iran. NIOC was established in 1951 and restructured under The Consorti ...

and

Iranian Offshore Oil Company The Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC, ) is a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company. IOOC, an independent legal entity, is based in Tehran and operates in southern Iran. Its activities cover important areas of the Persian Gulf and its ...

, and

Singapore Petroleum Company Singapore Petroleum Company Limited, in short SPC, is a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned company PetroChina. It is involved in the exploration and production of petroleum, refining, trading and petroleum product distribution. History The com ...

with Vetro Energy and PetroSeraya of Singapore have declared interests to provide assistance in construction of

offshore platform An oil platform (also called an oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, etc.) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platforms wi ...

s and

drilling rig A drilling rig is an integrated system that Drilling, drills wells, such as oil or water wells, or holes for piling and other construction purposes, into the earth's subsurface. Drilling rigs can be massive structures housing equipment used to ...

s for Ghana's state-owned oil company, Ghana National Petroleum Company on rapidly developing Ghana's oil and gas infrastructure and industry as Ghana aims to further increase output of oil to 2 million barrels per day and gas to 1.2 billion cubic feet per day with an expected annual generating revenue of GH₵140.7 billion (

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

65 billion) in 2014. Ghana is believed to have up to to of petroleum in reserves, which is the sixth largest in Africa and the 25th largest proven reserves in the world and Ghana has up to 6 trillion

in reserves.Alt URL
/ref> Ghana's experience with the oil and gas industry has been more complex than is often assumed. Recen
research
shows that the challenges and prospects of the oil and gas industry go beyond the often discussed issues about macroeconomic stability to pressing current concerns about energy. This research shows the possibility that the rents from oil and gas can be used for social change in Ghana.Obeng-Odoom F, 2015, 'Oil rents, policy, and social development: Lessons from the Ghana controversy', United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) Research Paper, no. 2, May.

References