Ghana is spending more money importing crude oil than it is earning from its export of the product.
Bank of Ghana data shows that in December 2015 Ghana imported $477.4 million worth of crude oil but earned $429.4 million from exporting its crude, leaving a deficit of $40 million.
Hopes for a booming oil economy in Ghana have been dashed. When the country began commercial production in December 2010, it was even cited as one of the new oil producers to be watched. But barely five years after oil started flowing the expected paradise has eluded citizens.
At the beginning of production at the Jubilee oil field, it was said to be the largest to be discovered in West Africa in over 10 to 15 years, according to Tullow Oil. Was said to contain 1.5 billion barrels of oil and has 17 wells.
Production levels have been swinging between 67,000 barrels per day and 100,000 barrels per day.
The discovery of the TEN fields which are expected to produce about 70,000 barrels of oil per day and 50 million standard cubic feet of gas per day seems to have renewed some hope in oil production in the country.
The falling price of oil in the world market isn’t helping matters. The price of Brent oil hit a 13-year low of just $28 a barrel in January, marking a 70 per cent fall from the $115 a barrel in June 2014.
It however, recovered in the last week to trade at $35 a barrel on Monday.
By Emmanuel K Dogbevi