Ghana's crude oil production declined from 71.44m to 48.25m barrels in 2023 – PIAC report

The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has released its 2023 annual report on the collection, management, and utilization of the country's petroleum revenues.

The report fulfills the watchdog’s statutory obligation under the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815), as amended by Act 893, to publish Semi-Annual and Annual Reports.

It also serves as a reconciliation of data provided by stakeholder institutions and an independent assessment of the collection, management, and utilization of the country's petroleum revenues.

For the 2023 financial year, PIAC’s report revealed that crude oil production declined for the fourth consecutive year.

Oil production dropped from a high of 71.44 million barrels in 2019 to 48.25 million barrels in 2023, representing an annual average decline of 9.2 percent.

The report also highlighted that the total proceeds from Jubilee Oil Holdings Limited (JOHL) liftings received in 2023, amounting to US$70,456,718.93, were not paid into the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF) for the second consecutive year.

This brings the cumulative proceeds of unpaid revenue into the PHF by JOHL to US$343,108,927.88 as of the end of 2023.

The report's findings also revealed that an ABFA amount of US$108,750,000 was disbursed to the GIIF-SPV Viability Fund for the Accra-Tema Motorway Extensions Project in 2023, instead of GIIF.

The Committee found the transfer of funds to be contrary to Section 21(4)(b) of the PRMA.

PIAC also made several recommendations, including urging the government and relevant regulatory bodies to take necessary measures to reverse the oil production decline in existing fields and ensure investments in unexploited fields.

The petroleum revenue watchdog also reiterated its position that proceeds from liftings of JOHL and other subsidiaries of GNPC constitute petroleum revenues within the meaning of Section 6(e) of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815) and Section 2 of the Petroleum Revenue Management (Amendment), 2015 (Act 893), and therefore must be paid into the PHF.

See PIAC's full annual report and highlights below





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