Ghana failed to attract a single new petroleum agreement in 2024, extending a worrying five-year trend that signals waning investor confidence in the country’s upstream oil and gas sector, according to the latest annual report by the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC).

The report, launched in Accra, revealed that the last petroleum agreement was signed in 2018, despite repeated efforts by the Ministry of Energy to woo new investors.

“This troubling trend… points to a continued decline in investor confidence in the country’s upstream petroleum sector,” PIAC chair Constantine K.M. Kudzedzi said as quoted by the Ghanaian Times.

While crude production continues its downward slide, Ghana saw a significant increase in revenue from oil in 2024. According to PIAC, total petroleum receipts rose by 27.8% - from $1.06bn in 2023 to nearly $1.36bn in 2024 - driven largely by elevated global oil prices.

“The growth… made 2024 the second-best year for petroleum receipts since Ghana began producing oil, with only 2022 recording a higher figure,” Kudzedzi noted.

However, the rise in revenue masked a deeper structural challenge: output from Ghana’s oilfields continues to decline. Crude oil production fell from 71.44mn barrels in 2019 to 48.25mn barrels in 2024, with a marginal year-on-year drop of 0.01%.

“Despite this, crude oil production declined again, continuing a five-year fall,” said Kudzedzi. He warned that the trend, representing an average annual decline of 7.4%, could pose a threat to the long-term stability of Ghana’s oil revenues if not urgently addressed.

PIAC also flagged major accountability concerns involving the state-owned Ghana National Petroleum Corporation’s (GNPC) subsidiary, Explorco. In 2024, GNPC Explorco received over $145mn from crude liftings but failed to transfer the amount into the Petroleum Holding Fund, as required by law.

“This pushed the total unpaid revenue by GNPC Explorco and JOHL to nearly $489mn,” Kudzedzi said.

Another red flag highlighted in the report was the state’s failure to recover over 1,186mn standard cubic feet of Make Up Gas from the Sankofa Gye Nyame (SGN) Field, even though the gas had already been paid for.

According to Mr Kudzedzi, the shortfall is the result of inadequate gas infrastructure, which has led to significant resource wastage that could otherwise have supported power generation or industrial growth.