Ghana Country Commercial Guide

Ghana - Oil and Gas

This is a best prospect industry sector for this country. Includes a market overview and trade

data.

Last Published: 11/9/2016

Overview
Efforts to commercialize Ghana’s offshore hydrocarbon reserves go back more than
25 years to the establishment of the state-owned Ghana National Petroleum
Company (GNPC). Attempts by GNPC to independently assess and take advantage
of oil and gas resources in the Gulf of Guinea met with limited success. After more
than a decade of unsuccessful exploration, GNPC sought out international partners
to assist in their efforts. The result was the 2007 discovery by Dallas-based Kosmos
of significant deep water oil and gas reserves in what is now called the Jubilee Field,
60 km offshore. Production began in 2010 and is managed by Tullow, Kosmos and
Anadarko in partnership with GNPC. Total production currently amounts to
approximately 100,000 barrels of oil and 80 mscf of natural gas a day.

In addition to the sole active field – Jubilee – Ghana’s Petroleum Commission has
allocated rights to develop 16 additional fields. The next development that will begin
to actively produce hydrocarbons will be the TEN field, an extension of the
partnership that has already developed Jubilee; production is expected to
commence in 2016. Rome-based Eni will begin development of the Sankofa field in
2016 with production potentially beginning as early as 2018. New York-based Hess
Oil also has rights to develop offshore acreage; their development plans are
currently being established.

With an oil sector that is in effect less than 10 years old, Ghana has limited domestic
capacity to serve the multinational oil companies that are commercializing the
offshore petroleum reserves. Domestic companies have very limited experience in
providing technical services to the offshore operators; onshore services are
somewhat more mature but still significantly under-developed. Nevertheless the
Government of Ghana has recently established local content requirements that
mandate minimum levels of participation by local companies. For some portions of
the oil and gas sector, up to 90% of equity will have to be held by domestic Ghanaian
firms.

Sub-Sector Best Prospects

There is an immediate need for oil and gas service firms that are able to partner with
indigenous Ghanaian companies to support the offshore activities of the
international oil companies. Domestic Ghanaian companies do not have the ability
to provide a broad range of services despite local content requirements mandating a
minimum level of local participation. Joint-venture firms with foreign partners
contributing technology and know-how to a partnership with a reliable local
company will be highly sought-after.

Opportunities
In addition to providing equipment and services directly to the exploration and
production companies, training programs to increase the capacity of Ghanaian firms
to provide these services are likely to be highly successful.

For additional information on current opportunities, please contact the U.S.

Commercial Service Ghana.

Web Resources
Ghana Petroleum Commission:
http://www.petrocom.gov.gh/ (http://www.petrocom.gov.gh/)

Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC)

http://www.gnpcghana.com (http://www.gnpcghana.com/)

Ghana National Petroleum Authority

http://npa.gov.gh (http://npa.gov.gh/)

Ghana Oil Company

http://www.goil.com.gh/ (http://www.goil.com.gh/)

Ghana Revenue Authority

http://www.gra.gov.gh/index.php/divisions/customs
(http://www.gra.gov.gh/index.php/divisions/customs)

Ghana Standards Authority

http://www.gsa.gov.gh/home/ (http://www.gsa.gov.gh/home/)

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