Ghana president tells firms to pump oil 'like there's no tomorrow'

Ghana's President John Mahama on Tuesday urged global firms to ramp up crude oil production in the West African nation before the global shift to renewable energy renders the resource worthless.

He warned that Ghana risks seeing its oil resources stuck in the ground if drilling is not fast-tracked while demand still exists.

Many countries have pledged to reduce their use of oil and gas to meet international targets for reducing the carbon emissions that drive deadly climate change.

"Oil is in transition. Everybody who has any assets should be pumping like there's no tomorrow," Mahama told the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

"I will lay a red carpet to anybody who wants to drill and pump oil because in the next decade or two, the world would have made a transition to renewables."

Mahama, who took office in January, accused the previous government of Nana Akufo-Addo of stalling oil exploration through regulatory bottlenecks and disputes with key investors such as British-based company Tullow and ENI of Italy.

He said the sector suffered "a lot of disinvestment" as the previous government had "squabbles" with Tullow.

Ghana's petroleum sector has seen a steady decline in output, according to the statutory body that monitors petroleum revenues in Ghana, the Public Interest and Accountability Committee.

It said crude oil production dropped to 48.25 million barrels in 2023 from 71.44 million in 2019 largely due to reduced investment in new wells.

Mahama blamed regulatory uncertainty for the exodus of some key players.

"ENI was held in contempt and they had to move all their expatriate management to Cote d'Ivoire," he noted, adding that now the company was "back and they are drilling again".

Ghana's major offshore oil assets include the Jubilee Field, operated by Tullow Oil, as well as the TEN and Sankofa fields, with players including Kosmos Energy, PetroSA, and the state-owned GNPC.

While calling for aggressive oil drilling, Mahama stressed Ghana must not abandon its clean energy goals.

He said the country's Renewable Energy Act required that "at least 10 percent of our energy mix should come from renewable sources."