Ghana crude oil output hit five-year low in 2023, state committee says
By Maxwell Akalaare Adombila
ACCRA, May 21 (Reuters) -Ghana's crude oil output fell to a five-year low in 2023 as production stalled in all fields, cancelling gains from new wells, a state committee tracking petroleum revenue said on Tuesday.
Output fell almost 7% last year, the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) said in a report, dragging down petroleum revenue in a country battling its worse economic crisis in a generation.
Ghana, the world's second biggest cocoa producer, became an oil producer in 2010. Output is currently around 160,000-170,000 barrels-per-day of crude oil and about 325 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas.
The West African nation has three producing oil fields operated by Eni ENI.MI, Tullow TLW.L, and Kosmos KOS.N, among others.
PIAC said weaker output was observed across Ghana's three fields, sustaining annual declines that started in 2019 after production peaked.
Ghana made $1.43 billion from crude oil sales and taxes in 2023, over 25% less than the previous year.
"The decline in revenues can be attributed to an interplay of lower production volumes and relatively lower international crude oil prices," PIAC said.
The report also raised concerns about rising production costs in the three fields.
Despite its huge potential for hydrocarbons, Ghana has not added to its active fields since May 2017, leaving many reserves trapped.
Norway's Aker Energy postponed plans to develop its Pecan oilfield while Ghana's Springfield and Italy's ENI are in court over another discovery.
Ghana's gas production rose 0.63% last year, the PIAC report said.
Said Boakye, a researcher at Ghana's Institute for Fiscal Studies said oil revenue decline dealt a particularly hard blow to Ghana as it seeks to service its debt and meet conditions for a $3 billion International Monetary Fund loan package.
"It is really a problem for the fiscal account," he said. "The deficit can't decline as expected and that means you won't get macroeconomic stability for the real sector to perform well."
Reporting by Maxwell Akalaare Adombila
Editing by Sofia Christensen and Tomasz Janowski
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