President John Dramani Mahama has announced that the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) will begin processing Ghanaian crude oil in June 2026 as part of efforts to increase local value addition and reduce the country's dependence on imported refined petroleum products.

He said a shipment of crude oil from Ghana's offshore fields would be delivered to TOR in June for processing, describing the move as a return to an initiative introduced during his previous administration.

Speaking at a diaspora town hall meeting in London on Sunday [May 31, 2026], President Mahama said Ghana needed to derive greater benefits from its natural resources by processing them locally.

"We are just about to make history again. We did it in my first term, but after we left office, it didn't continue. We are about to start refining our crude. In June, we are delivering a parcel of Ghanaian crude from our own oil fields to the Tema Oil Refinery to process," he said.

According to him, Ghana continues to export raw materials such as gold, bauxite, and manganese for processing abroad, only to import finished products at a higher cost.

"We process manganese, bauxite, gold, and everything, and then we ship them out to be processed by somebody else. In that processing, we are creating jobs in that other person's economy, and then the products for which we sent the ores abroad are made into finished products, and those finished products are exported back to us," he said.

Energy sector

President Mahama said his administration inherited an energy sector debt estimated at US$1.5 billion when it assumed office.

He said a US$500 million World Bank Partial Risk Guarantee covering payments to Italian energy company ENI and its partners for gas supplied from the Sankofa Field had been depleted before his government took office.

President Mahama said the guarantee had since been restored to its full value through measures taken by the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance.

"At the time we took over, that World Bank guarantee had been drawn down to zero. Today, through the work of the Minister of Energy and the Minister of Finance, we have restored that World Bank guarantee fully to US$500 million. As a result, they have also expanded the amount of gas they are giving us, which we use to generate power," he said.

Investment in oil and gas

The president also announced fresh investment commitments from existing partners in Ghana's upstream petroleum sector.

He said partners in the Jubilee Field had agreed to invest US$2 billion in drilling additional wells to increase oil and gas production, while ENI would invest a further US$1.5 billion in the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) project.

"The Jubilee partners and we signed an agreement for them to invest another US$2 billion in drilling new wells offshore Ghana to increase the amount of oil and gas that we produce. We have also signed with ENI to invest another US$1.5 billion in the OCTP field to increase the amount of gas and oil that we produce," he said.

Power producers

Touching on debts owed to independent power producers (IPPs), President Mahama said the government had refinanced liabilities estimated at US$1.5 billion and put in place a payment schedule.

"We have refinanced that debt, given them a payment plan, and we have met every single payment to them. They, too, are happy and producing power, and our power sector is stable," he said.