Ghana Records 53% Growth in Crude Oil

Ghana has recorded 53% growth in Crude oil production in the half quarter this year as compared to the 11,440,129 barrels produced last year.

A report from the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) indicates that the country recorded a total of 24,346,460 barrels from oil production from January to June this year.

The growth, said to be the highest half-year crude oil production since 2011, was generated from the three producing fields in the country.

According to the report, “an average daily production for Jubilee and TEN fields recorded over the period were 84,160 and 47,610 bbls respectively. Average daily oil production at SGN for the period 20th May to end of June was 12,099 bbls. SGN annualised average daily production as at 30th June was 2,740 bbls.”

There was a 25% increment over the 62,858 bbls average daily production recorded from the Jubilee Field in the first half of 2016.

Jubilee Field is said to have recorded its highest crude production volume in March and the lowest in January this year.

TEN Field also recorded its highest monthly production of 1,928,789 bbls in May, with the lowest of 931,776 bbls in June.

PIAC noted that there was an improvement in the amount of raw gas exported to the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant this year.

However, they are concerned that too much of the produced raw gas is flared.

They also observed that the Investment Advisory Committee established under the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA) appears not to be active in the first half year.

“PIAC recognizes the invaluable role the Advisory Committee could play in ensuring good returns are made on the GHF and GSF. We also noted that only 14.83 percent of the Annual Budget Funding Account (ABFA) allocation to the Ministry of Finance was actually spent on 3 of the four priority areas, with no disbursement made for Physical Infrastructure and Service Delivery in Health between January and July 2017”, the report read.

Recommendations

The Public Interest and Accountability Committee called on the Minister of Finance to ensure that proceeds from the Energy Sector Bond are judiciously managed to eliminate spiraling debts which are threatening to compromise the financial integrity of government institutions involved in the commercial aspect of the energy sector.

It further stated that “the Minister of Finance should ensure that the Investment Advisory Committee set up under Section 29 of the PRMA, is reconstituted and functional.”

They also called on GNPC to ensure that Business Interruption (BI) insurance cover is also procured for SGN.

By: Emmanuel Yeboah Britwum/ thePublisher