According to Dr. Steve Manteaw, Co-chair of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), Ghana is losing its shine as a preferred destination for upstream petroleum investment.
Speaking at the 2024 Annual Report launch by the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), Dr. Manteaw pointed to a troubling trend: Ghana has not signed a new petroleum agreement in the past five years. At the same time, crude oil production has dropped significantly, from a high of 71.44 million barrels in 2019 to just 48.25 million barrels in 2024.
“Ghana is no longer attractive to investors,” he stated bluntly. “Our fiscal regime needs urgent reform. We’re constantly engaged in arbitration with international oil companies, and yet we spend money flying around the world in search of investors who simply won’t come.”
Dr. Manteaw criticized the government’s lack of action on known issues, including the small size of exploration blocks and poor-quality geological data, factors that prompted ExxonMobil’s exit from the country.
“ENI discovered in Ghana before making one in Côte d’Ivoire. Today, they are producing in Côte d’Ivoire, while Ghana is still in the development stages. That should tell us something,” he emphasized. “We need to stay home and fix the problems if we want to regain investor confidence.”
