An aspiring Member of Parliament for Dormaa East, Paul Apraku Twum Barimah has indicated that Ghana’s investor confidence will strengthen on the back of a strong oil growth in 2021.

According to him, a report that predicts an increase in oil production in 2020 is a good omen for the country, signaling that the economy is being ran well.

Ghana’s oil production is expected to increase by 2%, next year, according to a report released by Fitch Solutions, research arm of ratings agency, Fitch.

According to Mr. Twum Barimah, who is also an energy expert, the longer-term outlook for Ghana’s crude oil production is positive, based on the expectation for continued field developments.

In January 2020, Ghana gained 1.3% in receipts from crude oil exports when oil traded at an average US$63.7 per barrel on the international market. Oil revenue has gone a long way to cushion Ghana’s economy even in the heat of the COVID 19 pandemic.

“Ghana’s potential in the oil industry is positive and we must all expect a positive outlook in the coming months and production increases” he stated.

Among the assets that hold the highest benefit in Ghana is the Pecan field which is located in the Gulf of Guinea, with total production capacity of 110,000 barrels per day. The Pecan field, operated by Aker Energy, is the largest of several discoveries made.

Paul Twum Barimah said the Sankofa Field operated by ENI has been key in providing energy to Ghana since 2019 with the capacity to produce 1,000 megawatts through power plants that provides electricity for around 1.6 million households and many businesses which need reliable source of power.

“Since Sankofa came online, Ghana’s annual oil import have dropped by 12 million barrels. The field is currently producing over 171 million standard cubic feet per day and operators are paying 5.0% royalty to government in Kind. GNPC  gets 20% of the rest as per its stake in the project.

“The longer-term outlook for Ghana’s crude oil production is positive, based on the expectation for continued field developments in the offshore blocks. Among the assets that hold the highest upside is the Pecan field located in the Gulf of Guinea, with total production capacity of 110,000b/d, he mentioned.

The Pecan field is estimated to contain about 334 million barrels of oil equivalents, and is expected to require an investment of about $4.4 billion.

Aker Energy operates the block with a 50% stake in partnership with Russia’s Lukoil (38%), state-owned Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (10%) and Fueltrade (2%).

He said the strong performance at Jubilee and TEN is a positive development for Ghana’s oil sector given they are Ghana’s two most productive fields.

Recent figures from Tullow Oil, show that gross production at the Jubilee and TEN fields averaged 136,700 barrels of oil per day between January and August 2020.

“This is better than what it had anticipated coming into the year. Last year, the country recorded 4.4 billion dollars from crude oil exports”.