Ghana’s petroleum revenues decrease following production challenges

According to the data, the country recorded $503.1 million from crude oil liftings, surface rentals and corporate taxes in the second half of 2019.

The BoG said this in its provisional data on revenue collected in 2019.

The first half of the year also generated $434 million bringing the total petroleum revenue received for last year to $937.7 million.

Last year’s revenue is four percent lower than the $977.1 million the country received from its petroleum resources.

The drop in petroleum revenues comes at a time the lead partners of Jubilee Fields, Tullow Oil, had to undergo a restructuring process amidst production challenges at Jubilee Fields and one of the wells at the Tweneboah-Enyerra-Ntomme (TEN) Fields.

The challenges at Jubilee relate to re-injection of gas into the wells which the company stated had led to a 30 percent cut in production.

At the TEN fields, a production well at Enyerra had to be suspended leading to a cut in production figures at TEN.

While the overall petroleum revenues dropped, corporate income taxes due the state from oil-producing companies, shot up from US$160.6 million in 2018 to $191.1 million – representing nearly a 19 percent increase.

According to the 2019 provisional data, a total of $269 million was transferred into the Ghana Petroleum Funds comprising the Stabilization Fund, which is used to support the budget in times of petroleum price shocks, and the Heritage Fund, an endowment fund for future generations.

The amount transferred into the Petroleum Funds is 38 percent lower than the $436.75 million set aside into the two funds in 2018.