The Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, has announced that the government is positioning the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) at the centre of a major national effort to revive the country’s declining oil production.
According to him, GNPC will commence drilling for oil in the offshore Voltain Basin in October 2026, a move he described as pivotal to expanding Ghana’s hydrocarbon output.
He made this known while presenting the 2026 Budget Statement in Parliament on November 13, 2025.
2026 Budget: Ghana secures $3.5 billion in oil and gas investments – Finance minister
“Mr. Speaker, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) will commence drilling for oil on the offshore Voltain Basin in October 2026. The prospects look good to expand Ghana’s hydrocarbon production,” he said.
The Voltain Basin project represents one of the most significant state-led upstream initiatives in recent years. It comes at a time when Ghana’s oil production has sharply declined, falling from 71.4 million barrels in 2019 to an estimated 36 million barrels in 2025, representing a near 50 percent drop.
Dr Forson told Parliament that President John Dramani Mahama’s administration has prioritised reversing this trend by empowering GNPC and strengthening the regulatory environment.
As part of this broader revival effort, he noted that government reforms have already attracted more than US$3.5 billion in new oil and gas investment commitments in 2025.
These include a US$2 billion agreement to drill 20 new wells in the Jubilee and TEN fields, and a US$1.5 billion Memorandum of Intent with OCTP partners to expand operations.
However, Dr Forson emphasised that GNPC’s new exploratory role in the Voltain Basin represents the long-term anchor of Ghana’s petroleum future.
“Mr. Speaker, this is a decisive step toward increasing our oil and gas production and ensuring Ghana fully benefits from its hydrocarbon potential,” he noted.
He added that government is also undertaking an upstream regulatory and fiscal review aimed at making Ghana’s petroleum regime “more competitive, transparent and stable,” creating a favourable environment for both GNPC and private investors.
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