Ghana: joining the West African oil exporters

“The discovery of oil off Ghana’s coast has raised questions about whether Ghana can escape the “resource curse”, where discoveries of valuable commodities fuel conflict and corruption instead of funding development. The oil revenues expected only represent 6% of their economy – compare that to Nigeria where oil revenue represents 92% of the economy or Angola where it’s almost 100%.It indicates they won’t be dependent on oil revenue… and are in a far better position to manage it more wisely”.

China gave Ghana a loan of 3 billion dollars to develop several industrial activities and particularly to operate competitively the oil sector in this newly oil producer. The Chinese loan is dedicated to Ghana, which intends to leverage its new status as an oil-producing country, to establish an effective marketing of its oil, create jobs, and increase the living standards of its people. This will enable the country to enter the circle of exporting countries. The discovery of oil in Ghana was officially announced in June 2007 after years of prospecting. A first shipment of 86312 tons of oil drawn from the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) left the Jubilee oil field, offshore Ghana. This cargo was taken over by a Libyan tanker, the first to start marketing the Ghanaian oil three weeks after the start of the commercial production on this deposit. The media reported that the Accra Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) had issued, earlier in the week, permission to ship oil from the FPSO, named in honor of Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah. The Jubilee oil field and gas was discovered in 2007 with estimated reserves between 650 million and 1.2 billion barrels, and officially began commercial operation on December the 15th. Western oil companies including Tullow Oil, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and Kosmos Energy has acquired controlling stakes in this pool, while the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) holds a participation of 13.75%. Contrary to the hopes of many Ghanaians, oil production reaches for the moment a volume of 5 000 to 8,000 barrels per day due to technical limitations and lack of infrastructure, but it could rise gradually thereafter up to 120,000 barrels per day.