The 2024 report on petroleum revenue utilisation priced by the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has made a number a number of recommendations to the government of Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry.
This was after the report made several observations in the upstream petroleum industry.
The PIAC report observed that total petroleum revenues for 2024 increased by 27.8 per cent from US$1,062,323,419.12 in 2023 to US$1,357,793,869.40 in 2024.
According to the report, the 2024 performance, which was mainly due to increase in pricing, also represents the second highest annual petroleum receipts since inception, with 2022 being the highest year (US$1.42 billion).
The total proceeds from the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Explorco’s liftings received in 2024, amounting to US$145,681,117.00, was not paid into the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF).
This brings the cumulative proceeds of unpaid revenue into the PHF held by JOHL and subsequently GNPC Explorco to US$488,790,044.88 as at end of 2024.
GNPC argues that proceeds from liftings by GNPC Explorco do not constitute payments into the Petroleum Holding Fund.
In its recommendation, PIAC reiterated its position that proceeds from liftings by GNPC Explorco constitute indirect participation of the State and therefore must be paid into the Petroleum Holding Fund.
PIAC also noted that Surface Rental arrears owed by some International Oil Companies (IOCs) remain high at US$2,893,120.29 as at the end of 2024. About 60 percent of these arrears are due to three companies whose Petroleum Agreements were terminated in 2021, it said.
PIAC recommend that the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Petroleum Commission, the Bank of Ghana and the Ministry of Energy should collaborate to recover the Surface Rental arrears.
Also, it noted that Ghana could not recover a Make Up Gas (MUG) volume of 1,186.81 MMSCF, which it had already paid for from the SGN Field in 2024.
This led to forfeiture of paid raw gas that could have been utilised.
“Government should expedite action to expand its gas infrastructure capacity to take up more raw gas,” it recommended.
SOURCE: 3NEWS.COM