Petroleum Commission to reduce Ghana’s 15% participating interest in oil explorations

The Petroleum Commission has hinted of considerations to reduce Ghana’s 15% participating interest in  oil explorations.

With the discovery of oil in a number of African countries, Ghana faces the risk of losing investments in the capital intensive sector to other African countries.

Chief Executive of the Commission, Egbert Fabile Jnr called for reforms to the country’s legal framework on oil explorations.

In his response to assertions about why Ghana’s sector has not developed new oil fields, Egbert Fabile, Chief Executive of the Petroleum Commission bemoaned the regulatory hurdle investors’ face.

“The conversation around that sector is very, very, very commercial, regulatory and also investment related. And the reason is simple, to drill one offshore exploratory Well, a company will have to spend between about 50 to $70 million to be able to bring oil to the surface.”

So when an investor brings their money, GNPC will have to take 15% through exploration, right to production. So if you bring $1, know that 15% of that will never be gotten back.” He added.

He continued by saying that, “In our case, if you look at Section 10, I think sub section four, five thereof, of the petroleum exploration and production act of 2016, it says that in Ghana, the state’s constituting interest is 15%”.

This he believes is disingenuous to the quest of making Ghana an exploration hub in the sub-region.

He highlighted the trend across the African continent explaining that “Ivory Coast, Angola, Nigeria, Guyana, and all the rest are hovering around a participating interest of 10% so if you go to the market with these competitors, if you’re an investor, where would you want to go?” he quizzed.

He used the opportunity to call on the minister of Energy and other relevant agencies to ensure Ghana remains competitive ahead of the Africa Oil Week conference scheduled to be held in Ghana in September 2025.

The conference will assemble key stakeholders across the oil and gas sector to build partnerships and discuss development of the sector as whole.