Ghana’s Environmental Protection Authority has published new methane regulations for the oil and gas sector, among the first detailed rules of their kind in Africa, setting out how companies must detect and repair leaks, control venting and flaring, and meet equipment performance standards across the full value chain, from production facilities to refineries and storage terminals.
The guidelines sit beneath Ghana’s Environmental Protection (Petroleum) Regulations of 2025, translating that law into specific technical requirements for inspection, repair and reporting. The International Energy Agency’s 2026 Global Methane Tracker named Ghana, alongside Kazakhstan and Brazil, among the small number of countries actively developing this kind of comprehensive methane framework, and the rules mark the first measure completed under the Climate and Clean Air Coalition’s Fossil Fuel Regulatory Programme, following years of collaboration between the EPA and the Clean Air Task Force.
CCAC Secretariat head Martina Otto said the framework establishes a model for effective methane mitigation that can be replicated, while CATF’s Africa methane policy manager Mohammed Dahiru Aminu said Ghana is now one of the region’s most important climate leaders, despite not ranking among West Africa’s largest methane emitters. The EPA said it will next focus on training inspectors and building data management systems, while the rules also carry commercial weight: the European Union’s incoming methane import rules will require exporters to demonstrate equivalent monitoring standards to maintain access to the EU market.
Source: newsghana.com.gh