Ghana earned a total of US$370.3 million in petroleum revenue during the first half of 2025, according to the latest semi-annual report released by the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC).
The report, which covered the period from January to June 2025, was unveiled at a media briefing in Accra yesterday.
Vice-Chair of PIAC, Odeefuo Amoakwa Buadu VIII, said the figures reflected Ghana’s continuing earnings from petroleum production, even though total revenue dropped sharply compared to the same period in 2024.
According to him, the amount was generated from five main sources — carried and participating interest, corporate income tax, royalties, Petroleum Holding Fund income, and surface rental.
He said carried and participating interest contributed the largest share of US$178.5 million, followed by corporate income tax amounting to US$149 million.
“Royalties added US$40.1 million, Petroleum Holding Fund income brought in US$2 million, and surface rental contributed US$863,000, making up the total of US$370.3 million,” he said.
He explained that crude oil production for the first half of the year amounted to 18.4 million barrels, representing a 25.9 per cent decline from the 24.8 million barrels recorded in 2024.
The Vice-Chair said the Jubilee Field contributed 11 million barrels, accounting for 60 per cent of total output, while the TEN Field produced 2.9 million barrels (16 per cent), and the SGN Field contributed 4.4 million barrels (24 per cent).
Odeefuo Amoakwa Buadu VIII said Ghana’s total crude production since the beginning of commercial oil production has now reached 675.1 million barrels. However, he expressed concern that the country’s output has been falling steadily since its highest level of 71.4 million barrels recorded in 2019.
On raw gas production, he said Ghana produced about 130,466 million standard cubic feet during the first half of 2025. Of this, Jubilee accounted for 26 per cent, SGN 53 per cent, and TEN 21 per cent.
“In terms of how the gas was used, 44.6 per cent was exported for processing, 40.2 per cent was injected back into the wells, 4.58 per cent used as fuel, and 10.61 per cent was flared.”
“This showed an improvement in environmental performance as gas flaring fell from 11.53 per cent in the same period last year to 10.61 per cent in 2025. Although Ghana earned some profit from petroleum production, the overall performance revealed worrying trends,” he said.
He noted that total petroleum receipts declined by 56 per cent from the US$840.7 million recorded in the first half of 2024 to US$370.3 million in 2025. The fall was mainly attributed to lower production and lower crude oil prices.
Odeefuo Amoakwa Buadu VIII also revealed that the average achieved price by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) for crude oil sold on behalf of the Ghana Group fell by about 13 per cent, from US$86.12 per barrel in 2024 to US$74.93 per barrel in 2025.
He further observed that Ghana has not signed any new petroleum agreements since 2018 — a development the committee said showed a lack of new investment in the country’s upstream petroleum sector.
He called on the government to act urgently to attract fresh investment and reverse the consistent decline in oil production.
Another issue he raised was the accumulation of surface rental arrears, which increased to US$2.82 million as of June 2025, compared to US$439,000 in 2024.
He urged the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Petroleum Commission, and the Ministry of Energy to work together to recover the outstanding arrears and noted that the allocation of petroleum revenue to the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation for operations and capacity building had been reduced from 30 per cent to 15 per cent.
He urged the government to strengthen GNPC with adequate resources and a revised legal framework so the corporation can effectively lead the exploration and development of Ghana’s petroleum resources.
On the use of petroleum revenue, Odeefuo Amoakwa Buadu VIII commended government for focusing the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) solely on infrastructure development, saying it would help avoid spreading resources too thinly across many projects.
However, he cautioned that infrastructure development remains broad and could still lead to scattered spending if not carefully managed.
BY AGNES OPOKU SARPONG
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