Kizito CUDJOE
The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Kwame Ntow Amoah, has assured that the national oil company (NOC) remains on course to commence its planned fourth-quarter drilling programme in the Voltaian Basin despite repeated shifts in the timeline.
Mr. Amoah said the delays were driven largely by a need to deepen GNPC’s understanding of the basin’s prospectivity and refine its drilling strategy, rather than inefficiencies within the state-owned oil company.
“As we continuously try to understand the prospectivity of the basins, we had to go back,” Mr. Amoah said.
He further explained that reassessing exploration plans when results from drilling or other technical work do not meet expectations is part of normal oil industry practice.
The additional work, he said, has enabled GNPC to strengthen its understanding of data acquired from the basin and improve its assessment of potential drilling locations.
Mr. Amoah was responding to concerns raised by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) at a forum organised by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) to mark its 20th anniversary.
He said GNPC is now better positioned to drill, having developed a stronger understanding of the onshore basin’s geology and prospectivity.
The Voltaian Basin covers about 104,000 square kilometres across much of the country’s interior and has been the focus of exploration work aimed at determining whether it contains commercially viable hydrocarbon deposits.
The basin has assumed greater importance as the country grapples with declining crude production and a need to replenish reserves. Crude production has fallen sharply from 71.4 million barrels in 2019, putting pressure on future petroleum revenues and increasing the urgency for new discoveries.
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The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Kwame Ntow Amoah, has assured that the national oil company (NOC) remains on course to commence its planned fourth-quarter drilling programme in the Voltaian Basin despite repeated shifts in the timeline.
Mr. Amoah said the delays were driven largely by a need to deepen GNPC’s understanding of the basin’s prospectivity and refine its drilling strategy, rather than inefficiencies within the state-owned oil company.
“As we continuously try to understand the prospectivity of the basins, we had to go back,” Mr. Amoah said.
He further explained that reassessing exploration plans when results from drilling or other technical work do not meet expectations is part of normal oil industry practice.
The additional work, he said, has enabled GNPC to strengthen its understanding of data acquired from the basin and improve its assessment of potential drilling locations.
Mr. Amoah was responding to concerns raised by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) at a forum organised by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) to mark its 20th anniversary.
He said GNPC is now better positioned to drill, having developed a stronger understanding of the onshore basin’s geology and prospectivity.
The Voltaian Basin covers about 104,000 square kilometres across much of the country’s interior and has been the focus of exploration work aimed at determining whether it contains commercially viable hydrocarbon deposits.
The basin has assumed greater importance as the country grapples with declining crude production and a need to replenish reserves. Crude production has fallen sharply from 71.4 million barrels in 2019, putting pressure on future petroleum revenues and increasing the urgency for new discoveries.
GNPC has faced criticism over repeated delays in moving from exploration work to drilling. The corporation had previously announced a 2025 drilling timeline, but the programme was not implemented within that timeframe.
Government subsequently included the Voltaian Basin drilling programme in the 2026 Budget Statement, setting the fourth quarter as its target for commencement.
Mr. Amoah said GNPC’s approach to the basin is also part of a broader strategy in building its capacity to operate petroleum assets rather than remain primarily an exploration partner.
“If we don’t operate, there is no future for GNPC. GNPC has to systematically develop its operatorship capabilities,” he said.
He cited the establishment of Explorco, a GNPC subsidiary, as part of the corporation’s efforts to build standalone operatorship capabilities.
Mr. Amoah also acknowledged the scale of GNPC’s spending on exploration data without having drilled a well in the basin.
“We should operate as an efficient entity. Spending US$150million to acquire data without drilling wells, we acknowledge that and are committed to becoming even more efficient,” he said.
The admission comes amid criticism from ACEP over the corporation’s expenditure and repeated changes to its drilling schedule.
The Policy Lead for Oil and Conventional Energy at ACEP, Kodzo Yoatse, in previous interviews said the delays have weakened confidence in GNPC’s assessment of the basin.
“GNPC has not given us anything to instil confidence about the Voltaian Basin’s prospects,” he said. “Even the timeline for drilling keeps shifting. The Corporation has spent over US$150million on that basin over the years with nothing concrete to show.”
Mr. Yoatse said government should urgently consider reclaiming petroleum blocks that have remained idle and reallocate them to qualified exploration and production companies as part of efforts to revive upstream activity.
Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has also backed the basin’s potential, saying government is taking “decisive action” to reverse the decline in oil production. “The prospects look good to expand Ghana’s hydrocarbon production,” he said.
Beyond the Voltaian Basin, two additional offshore wells are expected to be drilled under operations involving Heritage and Planet One, adding to the country’s exploration activity as it seeks to arrest the decline in domestic oil production.
The Q4 drilling programme will now provide a key test for GNPC’s assessment of the basin and its efforts to translate years of geological and seismic work into actual exploration drilling.
The forum was held under the theme ‘GNPC Today: Mandate, Delivery and the Road to Operatorship in the Context of Energy Transition’.
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