13.3million barrels of oil worth $827m missing - Report

A scandal is emerging in Ghana’s upstream petroleum sector as a whopping 13.3 million barrels of oil worth US$827 million from the Jubilee, TEN and Sankofa fields cannot be accounted for by authorities.

Careful scrutiny and analysis of Petroleum Receipts and Distribution Reports released quarterly by the Ministry of Finance from 2011-2017 reveal a cumulative figure of 239,738,762 barrels of oil being total production for the period.

In a shocking counter to the Ministry of Finance’s figures, the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) on 8th August, 2018 released a cumulative figure of 253,085,873 barrels of oil as total production for the same period of 2011-2017.

From the figures released by the two legal authorities expected to provide Ghanaians with accurate numbers in the upstream petroleum sector, a shortfall discrepancy of 13,347,111 barrels of oil is begging for answers.

For well over nine months now, the Ministry of Finance and the PIAC have not told Ghanaians the whereabouts of the 13.3 million barrels of oil worth over US$800 million.

The quarterly reports released by the Ministry of Finance are limited only to operational results of the core product, the volume of oil extracted and shared between Ghana and the Contractor Parties. They also detail corporate taxes paid so far by the foreign oil companies.

Ghana Crusader analysis reveals that information on proceeds from gas from the Jubilee, TEN and Sankofa fields are so scanty to come by and we are unable to compute the real figure on what Ghana earned from gas.

Ghana Crusader can state on authority that there are many underhand dealings in the upstream petroleum sector and these have resulted in Ghana earning very less from proceeds of oil and gas.

As at last year, figures released by the Ministry of Finance show that a total of 253,085,873 barrels of oil worth US$20,272,054,149 were extracted and exported by 31st December, 2017 from the three fields.

Out of the 253 million barrels of crude oil worth US$20.2 billion, Ghana got a paltry US$4 billion including corporate tax, representing 19.86 percent while the foreign oil companies bagged a whopping US$16.2 billion representing 80.14 percent.

Ghana Crusader offices have been inundated with complaints of wrongdoings and Ghana being cheated in the operations of Kosmos Energy, Tullow Oil and Anadarko.

The sordid state of very little earnings to Ghana from the crude oil production at the Cape Three points is as a result of bad agreements that Ghana authorities have signed with the oil companies and Ghana Crusader is going all out to expose the wrongs in the sector.