Ghana is on the verge of a historic energy milestone. President John Dramani Mahama has announced that the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) will begin processing domestically produced crude oil in June 2026 — a move designed to cut the country’s heavy dependence on imported refined petroleum products and keep more value within its borders.
Speaking at a diaspora town hall meeting in London on Sunday, May 31, 2026, President Mahama declared: “We are just about to make history again. We did it in my first term but after we left office it didn’t continue. We are about to start to refine our own crude. In June we are delivering a parcel of Ghanaian crude from our own oil fields to the Tema Oil Refinery to process.”
The President drew sharp attention to Ghana’s long-standing paradox of exporting raw materials — gold, bauxite, manganese and oil — only to reimport finished products at a premium, enriching foreign economies while Ghana bears the cost. He described the new initiative as a conscious reversal of that pattern and a return to a programme he launched during his first term in office.
On the energy sector more broadly, Mahama disclosed that his administration inherited a debt burden of approximately US$1.5 billion upon taking office. A critical US$500 million World Bank Partial Risk Guarantee covering gas payments to Italian energy company ENI and its partners for supplies from the Sankofa Field had been exhausted before his government assumed power. He said the guarantee has since been fully restored to US$500 million through coordinated action by the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance, enabling ENI to expand its gas deliveries to Ghana.
The President also revealed fresh upstream investment commitments. Partners in the Jubilee Field have agreed to invest US$2 billion to drill additional wells and boost oil and gas output. ENI, separately, will pump a further US$1.5 billion into the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) project to increase gas and oil production.
On the long-standing issue of debts owed to independent power producers, Mahama confirmed that the government has refinanced approximately US$1.5 billion in liabilities, established a repayment schedule, and has honoured every payment to date. He said the power sector is now stable.
Source: graphic.com.gh | Ghanaian Politics Reports