By Benson Afful
Ghana’s petroleum receipts plummeted to $370.34 million in the first half of 2025, a 56% decline from $840.77 million in the same period last year. The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) attributed the significant drop to lower crude oil production and prices.
Crude oil production decreased by 25.92% to 18.42 million barrels in H1 2025, down from 24.86 million barrels in H1 2024. Outstanding surface rental arrears stood at $2.82 million as of June 2025, up from $439,011.08 in H1 2024.
The Committee urged the government to ensure the Ministry of Energy and allied agencies increase efforts to arrest the decline in crude oil production and secure investments into Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry.
“The Ghana Revenue Authority, Petroleum Commission, Bank of Ghana, and Ministry of Energy should collaborate to recover the outstanding surface rental arrears,“
the committee said in its latest report on the management and utilisation of petroleum revenues.
PIAC highlighted a disparity between Section 21(3)(b) of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA) and Article 252(2) of the 1992 Constitution regarding the distribution of the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) to the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF). PIAC recommended amending Section 21(3)(b) of the PRMA to comply with Article 252(2) of the 1992 Constitution regarding ABFA distribution to DACF.
The Committee also suggested that the government select fewer projects to be funded from start to finish from the ABFA under infrastructure development and appropriately brand them when completed. The Agenda 111 Project, which received GH¢2.610 billion (approximately US$248.89 million) from 2021 to 2024, will no longer receive critical funding from the ABFA due to the latest amendment to the Act. PIAC’s budget has been significantly reduced, limiting its ability to fulfill its statutory mandate.
