- Energy analyst Ben Nsiah warns of sharp decline in Ghana’s crude oil receipts and petroleum revenue
- Crude lifting receipts fell from $369M in H2 2024 to $198M in H2 2025, a 46% drop
- Total petroleum revenue fell from $1.3B in 2024 to $769M in 2025, a 43% contraction
Energy analyst Ben Nsiah has called for an urgent policy overhaul in Ghana’s upstream petroleum sector following a steep decline in crude oil receipts and overall petroleum revenues, highlighting concerns about falling production, weak investor appetite, and future cash flow challenges.
Official data shows that crude oil lifting receipts dropped to $198.25 million in the second half of 2025, down from $369.25 million during the same period in 2024—a decline of more than 46 percent.
The slump reflects broader weaknesses in upstream performance. According to Nsiah, total petroleum revenue fell from approximately $1.3 billion in 2024 to $769 million in 2025, representing a 43 percent contraction.
“The 2025 petroleum revenue marks one of the poorest performances in our upstream sector,” Nsiah told Citi Business News.
He warned that the figures point to deeper structural challenges, particularly a slowdown in exploration and field development activity.
“It is concerning for industry players in the petroleum upstream. We urgently need targeted interventions to attract the investment required for both exploratory and developmental projects,” he said.
Nsiah, who also serves as Executive Director of the Centre for Environmental Management and Sustainable Energy (CEMSE), emphasized that the revenue decline is increasingly driven by falling production volumes rather than oil price fluctuations.
“Even if prices are stable, higher production translates into higher revenue. Our challenge is not price, but output,” he explained.
He noted that upstream output has dropped sharply in recent years, from around 70 million barrels to roughly 35 million barrels, reflecting difficulties in attracting new investment since 2019.
Reversing this trend, Nsiah argued, requires strong strategic guidance from the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition, including empowering the Petroleum Commission to revise regulatory practices and create an investor-friendly environment.
“The ministry must provide clear strategic direction on how to equip the Petroleum Commission to implement policies that will entice investors back into our upstream sector,” he said, describing the sector as “almost near comatose.”
Nsiah also cautioned that sustained weakness in upstream activity could threaten the financial stability of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), which relies heavily on petroleum receipts to meet cash calls and fund new exploration.
“GNPC’s main source of revenue comes from petroleum. If the sector underperforms, it will affect the corporation’s ability to contribute to cash calls and finance exploration in the Volta Basin and other offshore areas,” he said.
Without renewed investment in well development and frontier exploration, Nsiah warned of a downward spiral in production and state revenues.
“If we fail to develop wells and explore new oil fields, output will continue to fall. Declining output means falling revenue, which will impact GNPC in the medium term—a scenario Ghanaians do not want to see,” he added.
