According to recent data and remarks made by Dr. John Abu Jinapor, Minister of Energy and Green Transition, the Ghana’s oil industry fell significantly in 2025, with the trend picking up speed in November.
Ghana’s crude oil production dropped from 71.4 million barrels in 2019 to barely 48.2 million barrels this year, a steep decline of over 32% year over year. At a conference in Takoradi on November 4, the Minister described this as a “sobering story” of contraction.
Industry and Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) assessments show that production fell by 25.9–26% in the first half of 2025 alone when compared to the same period in 2024. This has increased fiscal strains by halving the government’s petroleum earnings throughout that period.
The minister blamed a number of structural and policy-related problems for the decline, including:
Regulatory and policy barriers: Investors have been put off by drawn-out licensing procedures, frequent fiscal regime changes, and preventable legal conflicts (such as those involving field unitization).
Burdens associated with local content: Excessively strict regulations have raised operating expenses without corresponding gains.
Exploration shortfall: Older resources like Jubilee and TEN are naturally depleting, and there is little investment in new finds.
Major operators like Tullow Oil and Kosmos Energy have decreased their activities as a result of these reasons, which has caused a general slowdown in upstream operations.
Ghana’s oil center, the Western Region, is particularly hard hit, with ancillary industries (such as logistics and services) suffering, private sector activity halting, and job losses increasing.
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Demands for revitalization initiatives, such as simplified rules and rewards for exploration, are growing louder. Nationally, this decline compounds Ghana’s economic challenges, including debt servicing and inflation, as oil accounts for a key portion of export earnings and government revenue.
While the sector isn’t collapsing entirely, the trajectory is concerning without reforms. Jinapor hinted at government efforts to address inefficiencies, potentially through a “Green Transition” framework that balances oil with renewables.
Industry watchers suggest prioritizing fast-track licensing and fiscal stability to attract $5–10 billion in new investments by 2030.