IMANI Africa Vice President Kofi Bentil on Saturday called for a complete structural overhaul of Ghana’s petroleum economy, arguing that the country must rethink how it produces, refines, taxes, and prices fuel if it is to end decades of costly import dependency.
Speaking on a panel discussion, Bentil questioned why Ghana continues to export raw crude oil and then spends significant foreign exchange buying back the same oil in refined form as petrol, diesel, and other products. He described the arrangement as economically irrational and said it could be reversed if Ghana organises its refining infrastructure properly.
He pointed to the existing capacity of domestic refineries as proof that local production of petroleum products is achievable. The privately operated Sentuo Oil Refinery in Tema, which began operations in January 2024 with an initial throughput of around 30,000 barrels per day (bpd), has a design capacity of approximately 120,000 bpd at full build-out, exceeding Ghana’s domestic demand of around 80,000 bpd. The state-owned Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) adds further potential, though its debt burden and design limitations remain constraints.
Bentil also described a review of Ghana’s petroleum tax structure as an urgent priority. The call comes days after the government convened an emergency cabinet meeting on April 9 and directed the Finance and Energy ministries to suspend certain petroleum taxes and margins to reduce pump prices amid rising global crude costs linked to the ongoing Middle East conflict. Data from the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) shows that taxes, levies, and regulatory margins accounted for roughly 39 percent of the ex-pump price of petrol in early 2026, a burden Bentil argues the current framework does little to rationalise.
The argument extends a case Bentil has made consistently in recent months. In March 2026, he called on West Africa to leverage its existing refining assets to reduce dependence on imported petroleum products. On April 4, he warned that the Middle East conflict would fundamentally reshape the global energy order and urged Ghanaian leaders to move beyond short-term crisis management toward structural energy resilience.
Ghana’s crude oil production has declined for six consecutive years, falling from 71.44 million barrels in 2019 to 37.3 million barrels in 2025, according to the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC). The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has introduced revised royalties and tax incentives to attract new investment and reverse the slide.
