Ghana’s oil take in upstream petroleum activities accumulated $731,944,828.87 million in corporate taxes, surface rentals and oil liftings in the first half of the year, according to data from the Bank of Ghana.

A breakdown of the data shows that as at close of the second quarter, Ghana accumulated $186.3 million in corporate taxes from Tullow ($72.4 million), Kosmos ($109.5 million) and Petro SA ($4.5 million).

Petroleum liftings from Jubilee, TEN and SGN was $544.6 million with listings from Jubilee: sixty third jubilee ($70.4 million), sixty fourth jubilee ($92.6 million), sixty fifth jubilee ($104.2 million). Liftings from TEN include Twentieth TEN ($71.0 million) and SGN liftings: ninth SGN ($108.8 million), tenth SGN ($97.6 million).

With regards to allocation of liftings to the Ghana Petroleum Fund (GPF), the data showed that a total of $273.02 million of all the liftings from the Jubilee, TEN and SGN fields were disbursed into the Ghana Stabilisation Fund (GHF) while a total of $117.0 million was disbursed into the Heritage Fund.

Surface rentals accrued over the period was $992,372.14 from Tullow ($77,725.23), Base Energy ($75,000), Eni Ghana ($115,580), AGM Petroleum ($174,100), Gosco ($8,725), Sahara Energy Ltd ($71.934.93) and Amni Ghana ($13,944).

Stipulated in the 2022 budget, the projected Petroleum Benchmark Revenue for 2022 was estimated at US$1,006.1 million. This is made up of Royalties of US$206.5 million, Carried and Participating Interest of US$537.6 million, Corporate Income Tax of US$261.1 million and Surface Rentals of US$0.92 million.

Thus, comparing specifically, the revenues accumulated from oil liftings, surface rentals and corporate taxes as provided by the data, this shows increased revenues from the fields, despite the fact that higher production is suspect.

Government on Track to Achieve Target

With 2022 as baseline, the government’s medium-term projections for petroleum receipts are expected to rise to US$1,033.2 million in 2023, US$1,060.7 million in 2024, and US$1,017.2 million in 2025.

By accumulating more than half of the projected 2022 petroleum revenue, the government is on track to meet its projections for the full-year and much likely to realize windfall taxes.

This is buoyed by the elevated prices of crude in the global market, primarily as a result of the geopolitical rifts between Russia and the West and the accompanied supply crunch which has since skyrocketed energy prices.

The government’s benchmark crude oil price for 2022, estimated as a seven-year moving average in line with the PRMA, is US$61.23 per barrel. Oil prices are currently gaining momentum with prices of Brent and WTI crude hovering around $105.5 per barrel and 97.75 barrels respectively as at today, July 22, 2022.

Prior oil price movements have seen a fall, following market sentiments triggered by considerations that Saudi Arabia was likely to ramp up crude supply on the back of President Biden’s visit.

Meanwhile, for petroleum consumers this means further hikes in energy prices. In fact, experts and forecasters are of the view that the oil market volatilities currently experienced are likely to last 3-5 years, hence cautioning energy consumers to brace themselves for what lies ahead.