Oil production to rise six-fold by 2018

Ghana’s oil production will rise six-fold by 2018 to an estimated 242.3 million barrels from 39.1 million barrels this year as new fields start production, Seth Terkper, Finance Minister said. The country has new crude discoveries at different stages of appraisal and development.

Terkper said Ghana was also forecast to produce 37 billion cubic feet of gas this year, adding that the government’s objective was to add value to its energy production by turning gas into power domestically.

First oil from TEN could be in late 2016. The site may have reserves of 245 million barrels and peak daily production is forecast at 76,000 barrels.

It is expected that Ghana will double crude production by 2017 as offshore deposits being developed by Tullow Oil Plc and Eni SpA start producing oil. Tullow’s TEN development will produce about 80,000 barrels a day by then, Eni’s Sankofa Gye-Nyame deposit will pump 50,000 barrels and production at Ghana’s Jubilee field will rise to 120,000 barrels from 110,000 today.

State-owned GNPC is also pushing exploration in the onshore Voltaian Basin which stretches from the south to the northern part of Ghana and covers about 40 percent of the country.

The discovery of oil and gas in commercial quantities provided the country an immense opportunity to effectively improve its economy, for which reason all sectors of the economy were positioning themselves for the take-off into the new economic horizon created by the oil and gas discoveries.

Oil displaced cocoa as Ghana’s second-most valuable export in 2012, with shipments worth $3 billion, according to the central bank. Gold remains the country’s top foreign-currency earner.

There are many who are sceptical and are asking whether the oil and gas find will be a curse for Ghana, as it has been the case in some African countries.