The Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas has posited that Ghana faces grim prospects as the world turns its attention from fossil fuels to renewables.
According to the group, investments in exploration and new development projects in Ghana have declined sharply.
The CSO believes that the reserves of existing producing fields are fast depleting and the country risks an imminent downturn in the medium term and a stranded asset in the long term.
Speaking to Citi News, the Chairman for the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas, Dr. Steve Manteaw called for immediate steps to be taken to secure the future of the oil and gas industry.
“Over the last five years, there hasn’t been any substantial investment into exploration which means, if we do not make any new discovery anytime soon, in less than 10 years, our oil industry will take a nosedive. Its production is declining because of energy transition which is diverting investible resources away from fossil fuels into renewals and that is one major area we do not have any investment in exploration.”
“When you take Jubilee Fields, they produced half of our probable reserves already. And if you take TEN fields, they have produced about a third already and for Sankofa Gye Nyame, we have produced over a quarter”, he further explained.
In the past, the Institute of Energy Security (IES) urged civil society groups to closely monitor the activities of the newly formed Upstream Petroleum Chamber.
The formation of the chamber is to promote upstream oil and gas exploration in the country.
Some of the companies that are part of the chamber include Tullow Oil Ghana, Kosmos Energy Ghana and Eni Ghana.