Ghana earned a total of over $731.94 million from oil production in the first half of 2022.

This earnings came from the three fields namely, Jubilee, TEN and Sankofa Gye Nyame.

They however comprised of royalties, tax payments and surface rentals.

This pushed total revenue from the petroleum sector to about $8.09 billion since 2011 when petroleum production commenced in Ghana.

According to the 2022 Semi-Annual Report of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), the amount excludes an oil lifting that was done by a subsidiary of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Jubilee Oil Holding Limited (JOHL), which acquired Anardarko last year. 

Speaking to some Journalists ahead of the launch of the report, the Chairman of PIAC, Professor Kwame Adom Frimpong, said the country could have earned more from the sector.

“Following the acquisition of 7% interest in the Jubilee and TEN Fields by GNPC in 2021 (later ceded to its subsidiary -JOHL), JOHL made its first lifting of 944,164 bbls on the Jubilee Field in the first half of 2022, amounting to $100.74 million”.

“This amount was not paid into the Petroleum Holding Fund, a situation PIAC is hoping to get it resolved by close of the year or before publishing its full year report”, he noted.

Meanwhile, contrary to Section 6(e) of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815), Capital Gains Tax was not assessed and collected by the Ghana Revenue Authority in the sale of the 7% interest by Anadarko in the Jubilee and TEN Fields in 2021.

In its written response to PIAC on the matter, the Ghana Revenue Authority referred the Committee to the Ministry of Finance indicating that the Ministry was exclusively in charge of the transaction. The Ministry of Finance in turn referred the Committee to the Ghana Revenue Authority for answers.

The Ghana Petroleum Funds (GPFs) received an amount of $390.029 million for the first half of 2022, which is 91.43% higher than the budgeted allocation of $203.75 million for the GPFs for the full year in compliance with Section 4(a)(iii) of the Petroleum Revenue Management (Amendment) Act, 2015 (Act 893).