Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Ghana’s Petroleum Commission to outline upstream investment opportunities
Striving to increase production and reverse natural declines in mature oilfields, Ghana is promoting new investment across its upstream oil and gas sector. The country – through national upstream regulator the Petroleum Commission of Ghana – is embarking on a series of industry reforms that aim to strengthen the operating environment for oil and gas companies. These efforts are expected to translate into heightened exploration, as companies pursue play-opening discoveries in Ghana’s on- and offshore market.
The Petroleum Commission of Ghana will outline the country’s exploration opportunities during the Invest in African Energies: Accra Investor Briefing – taking place next week. Victoria Emeafa Hardcastle, CEO of the Petroleum Commission, is speaking at the event, sharing insight into regulatory reforms, untapped exploration prospects and strategies being implemented to bolster production.
Policies such as the Gas Master Plan stand to transform the country from an oil-reliant market into a diverse and integrated economy
With 17 oil and gas projects scheduled for development by 2027, Ghana is making strides towards unlocking its 1.1 billion barrels of crude reserves and 2.1 trillion cubic feet of gas. The Petroleum Commission regulates and manages the utilization of petroleum resources in Ghana, coordinating policies across the country’s upstream sector. Both existing and new policies are expected to support industry growth, particularly in emerging sectors such as natural gas. Notable policies include the Gas Master Plan, a framework for investing in the country’s gas value chain. The plan outlines a development strategy through 2040, incentivizing capital and technology deployment by offering clear terms and objectives.
The plan has already incentivized major projects. The Tema FLNG project, for example, is under development in Accra. The facility comprises the requisite infrastructure to import, store, re-gasify and deliver LNG to off-takers in the Greater Accra Area. Operated by Helios Investment Partners, the $350 million plant has a capacity of 1.7 million tons of gas per year. Additionally, the Atuabo II Gas Processing plant – an expansion of the operating Atuabo facility – is on track for production in 2025. The second phase has a capacity of 150 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d), with opportunities to increase output two-fold, reaching 300 mmscf/d in future phases. The plant will be capable of producing propane, butane and pentane condensates and is being built at a cost of $700 million.
In the oil sector, the Petroleum Commission continues to attract investments in exploration, promoting undeveloped blocks in both on- and offshore basins. Following the success of the country’s biggest oilfields – Jubilee and TEN – the country is inviting partners to unlock the potential of adjacent blocks. Engagement with global partners and regional firms have already begun to yield positive results. Tullow Oil brought three new wells onstream at the Jubilee South East project in Q1, 2024, and will drill one producer and one injector well at the Jubilee field in 2025. The company is also advancing a 4D seismic survey at both Jubilee and TEN. Additionally, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation will drill an exploration well in the Voltaian Basin in 2025.
“Ghana’s approach to developing its oil and gas industry must be commended," said NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber. "The country is not only instituting reforms in tax and policy, but working closely with international operators to strengthen the attractiveness and competitiveness of their investments. Policies such as the Gas Master Plan stand to transform the country from an oil-reliant market into a diverse and integrated economy."
Image: TEMA LNG terminal, Ghana
Diamondback exec calls out Trump as tariff concerns mount for U.S. shale industry
(Bloomberg) – A top executive at Diamondback Energy Inc. called on President Donald Trump’s administration to explain how the global trade war will help shale producers, a rare instance of public pushback from a U.S. oil boss.
“This administration better have a plan @SecretaryWright,” Kaes Van’t Hof, president of Diamondback, said April 6 in a post on X. He added that U.S. shale is “the only industry that actually built itself in the U.S., manufactures in the U.S., grew jobs in the U.S. and improved the trade deficit (and by proxy GDP) in the U.S. over the last decade … smart move.”
A spokesperson for the Energy Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Van’t Hof declined to comment beyond the X post.
His comments are among the first public statements from an executive in the shale patch since Trump announced additional tariffs on countries around the world. Industry bosses delivered scathing, anonymous, opinions on the administration’s energy agenda in last month’s Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas survey.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. oil benchmark, has fallen more than 15% since Thursday to trade near $60 a barrel. That’s well below the $65 threshold that many companies need to profitably drill new wells in Texas and surrounding states, according to the Dallas Fed survey.
Diamondback, which last week closed on its $4.2 billion acquisition of closely held Double Eagle, is the biggest independent oil producer in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico. Van’t Hof will take over as CEO at Diamondback’s annual meeting this year.
Monday, April 7, 2025
OPEC+ committee reiterates need for oil output quota compliance
(Bloomberg) – Key OPEC+ nations reiterated the need for members to stick to oil output quotas after the group’s surprise decision to speed up an output revival battered crude prices.
The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee noted that some OPEC+ members failed to fully observe their limits or deliver extra curbs pledged as compensation for over-producing, according to a statement on the group’s website on Saturday. These nations were told to submit compensation plans by April 15.
Led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, the OPEC+ alliance stunned oil traders last week by announcing it would accelerate plans to revive halted supplies next month, with an increase triple the size originally scheduled. Delegates privately said the shock move was intended to instill better discipline among members like Kazakhstan and Iraq.
See also: OPEC+ shocks oil market with plans to boost output, driving down prices
The decision on Thursday, unveiled just hours after President Donald Trump’s barrage of tariffs sent financial markets into meltdown, compounded losses in crude futures, which tumbled the following day to a four-year low.
The JMMC is next due to meet on May 28, the same day that the OPEC+ alliance is set to hold its next full ministerial meeting. The subset of nations engaged in supply restraints will make a decision on June output on May 5.
Friday, April 4, 2025
OPEC+ shocks market with plans to boost oil supply, driving down prices
(Bloomberg) – For most of this decade, the OPEC+ alliance has been the world’s most stalwart defender of high oil prices. In just a few moments this week, that role reversed dramatically.
In a video conference on Thursday, the coalition of crude producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia was expected to simply remind errant members to respect their output limits, ahead of rubber stamping its existing plan to gradually raise production.
Instead they delivered a major shock — increasing supply by three times the planned amount in May in what delegates described as a deliberate effort to drive down prices to punish the group’s cheats.
After many months of excess production from Kazakhstan and Iraq, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman reached the limit of his patience, delegates said, asking not to be identified because the talks were private. The larger-than-expected May output hike would just be an “aperitif” if those countries didn’t improve their performance, the prince said on the call.
Prince Abdulaziz’s gambit — a marked break from years of urging OPEC+ to remain cautious in adding supplies — illustrates the toll taken on the alliance as its effort to balance global oil markets drags on far longer than initially envisioned. For some observers, it stirs echoes of the price war that briefly erupted between OPEC+’s leaders during the 2020 pandemic.
Crude was already reeling from the onslaught of trade tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump the previous day, and the surprise addition of 411,000 barrels a day by OPEC+ in May turbo-charged the rout. Brent futures sank as much as 7.3%, the most in two years, to below $70 a barrel.
The timing of the announcement by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies seemed unlikely to be a coincidence, and group delegates and crude traders alike speculated that Riyadh deliberately sought to maximize the bearish effect.
Astana has infuriated Riyadh by ramping up output at a new project to expand its giant Tengiz oil field, in partnership with international majors like Chevron Corp. Even as the country pledged to conform better with its OPEC+ limits, in February its output was a hefty 300,000 bpd above target.
Iraq, another habitual quota cheat, has reduced output closer in line with its quota in recent months, but has shown little sign of making the compensation cuts it promised to atone for past over-production.
While delegates said they were surprised at the outcome of what was supposed to be a routine conference call, they were supportive of measures to end cheating and everyone backed the proposal from Saudi Arabia and Russia to make a larger supply hike in May.
“This is about coaxing Kazakhstan and Iraq to improve their compliance in a balanced way,” said Bob McNally, president and founder of Rapidan Energy Advisers LLC and a former White House energy official.