Role and Contribution of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) as a National Oil Company: A Reflection

The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) was established by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation Act, 1983 (PNDCL 64), as Ghana’s national oil company (NOC), among other things, to accelerate oil and gas exploration with a view to establishing production and reducing the country’s dependence on crude oil imports. It was also made responsible for importing oil for refining at the Tema Oil Refinery and ensuring an adequate and reliable supply of petroleum products. This chapter critically analyses GNPC’s evolution and role in promoting the exploration and the orderly planned development of the petroleum resources of Ghana and ensuring that Ghana obtains the greatest possible benefits from the development of its petroleum resources, as mandated by its statute. Various institutional capacity-building initiatives—human and technical resources—and international collaborations have helped GNPC development over the years. GNPC’s constant involvement in all the exploration activities, as the national commercial corporate partner, has provided continuity and consistency to Ghana’s exploration efforts. The development of natural gas-fired thermal power in Ghana, including the initiation of the West African Gas Pipeline project, is also largely owed to the Corporation. Nevertheless, GNPC’s ability to deliver on its mandate is constrained by pressures to deploy scarce resources on expenditures that are really Government responsibilities and on pre-exploration (reconnaissance) expenditures in the Voltaian Basin. The author argues that sustaining and increasing current production, developing discoveries, deploying innovative technology and enhanced recovery approaches and harnessing natural gas resources for national and regional energy requirements are the corporate priorities that will increase revenues and value for the nation—beyond the over six and a half billion US dollars of revenue realised in the 2010–2020 decade—and enable GNPC fulfil its mandate. Even as International Oil Companies (IOCs) strategise about their various paths to Net Zero, NOCs, such as GNPC, also need to develop national strategies and not simply follow the paths of IOCs. GNPC’s energy transition agenda must be within the national context for national benefit.