Even though oil production volumes have plummetted, the rise in prices have evened out the shortfall, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Mr Joseph Abuabu Dadzie has said.

The 2023 annual report of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) indicated that Ghana's crude oil production declined for the fourth consecutive year.

The report indicated a drop from 71.44 million barrels in 2019 to 48.25 million barrels in 2023, representing an annual average decline of 9.2%.

Additionally, the report highlighted that proceeds from Jubilee Oil Holdings Limited (JOHL) liftings, amounting to $70.5 million in 2023, were not deposited into the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF) for the second year running.

This has resulted in a cumulative total of $343.1 million in unpaid revenue to the PHF by JOHL as of the end of 2023.

PIAC voiced concerns over the continuous decline in oil production and called on the government and regulatory bodies to take necessary actions to reverse the trend and encourage investments in unexplored fields.

The committee also reiterated that proceeds from JOHL and other subsidiaries of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) should be classified as petroleum revenues under the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815) and its amendment in 2015 (Act 893), and  thus, must be paid into the PHF.

Commenting on the situation, the GNPC CEO admitted: "We need to increase our production", but pointed out: "We need to also appreciate that revenue is a function of two parameters, that is price and volume". 

"So, we’ve been very fortunate that even though the volumes have declined a bit, we saw in the region of high oil prices, so revenue is still about stable."