Ghana’s oil revenue rises by 67% in first half of 2017 – BoG

Latest figures have shown that revenue from Ghana’s oil production increased by 67 percent for the first half of 2017 compared to the same period in 2016.
The semi-annual report on the Petroleum Holding Fund and Ghana’s Petroleum Funds shows that Ghana realized 191.32 million dollars in revenue in the first half of this year compared to the 114.4 million dollars it received in the same period last year.
The report, which is released by the Bank of Ghana on the performance of Ghana’s petroleum revenue, attributed the increase in revenue to the coming on board of the TEN oilfields.
Comparatively, oil production from the Jubilee oilfields between January and June 2017, recorded about 97.12 million dollars compared to the 114.4 million dollars.
But the TEN oilfields pushed the 2017 figures up by 94.2 million dollars.
In the first half of 2017, an allocation of 277.79 million dollars was made to the Ghana Petroleum Holding Fund which comprises the Ghana Stabilisation and Ghana Heritage Funds.
For the one year period, the Ghana Stabilisation Fund which is supposed to cushion the country when there is an unanticipated shortfall in petroleum revenue received 71.51 million dollars; 5 times more than the 13.51 million dollars allocation given in 2016.
Also, the Ghana Heritage Fund which serves as an endowment for future generations and which cannot be touched unless after 15 years of its establishment, received 30.64 million dollars in the first half of 2017, up from the almost 6 million dollars allocated in the same period last year.
Meanwhile the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), the institution mandated to carry out Ghana’s interest in the oil production received the highest of 90 million dollars for the first half of this year.
It was closely followed by the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA); a predetermined percentage of the projected oil revenue.
This received almost 85 million dollars representing an 88 percent rise from the 45 million dollars allocated in the same period in 2016.
Moreover, the various components of the other revenue sources to the government of Ghana recorded rise in the first half of this year.
It is worth noting that in conformity with provisions of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, there were no withdrawals from the Ghana Stabilisation Fund.
On returns of the investments undertaken with the funds, the country recorded some gains in the stabilization fund from 0.33 % to 0.54 %.
The Ghana Heritage Fund on the other hand recorded a dip in its interest on the investment portfolios; the figure reduced from 4.93% to 2.09%.