The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) received 61.55 percent less funding in 2025 than in previous years, according to the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), a cut the watchdog body says directly undermines the corporation’s capacity to lead exploration and sustain production at a moment when Ghana can least afford it.
Allocations to GNPC stood at US$107.89 million in 2025, marking a significant decline of 61.55 percent compared to previous years. The reduction raises questions about reinvestment capacity within the national oil company.
The cut follows amendments to the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA) that redirected the bulk of the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) towards the government’s infrastructure programme. PIAC’s 2025 Annual Report, launched April 8 in Accra, flags the reduction as a concern at exactly the wrong time. Ghana’s crude output has fallen for six consecutive years, dropping from 71.44 million barrels in 2019 to 37.3 million barrels in 2025, and the country has signed no new petroleum agreement since 2018.
PIAC Chairman Richard Ellimah called directly for GNPC to be adequately resourced with both funding and a revised legal framework to lead the country’s upstream exploration strategy. The committee’s recommendation is explicit: GNPC cannot attract partners, conduct exploration, or manage its equity obligations in existing fields if its own financial base is being eroded by policy decisions made elsewhere in government.
The practical consequence is already visible. GNPC did not receive any revenue from the TEN Field during the first half of 2025, despite incurring a cost of US$2.45 million to finance its equity obligations there. A state oil company spending money on a field from which it earns nothing, while simultaneously having its overall allocation cut by more than half, is a structural problem that PIAC says must be addressed through clear policy, not assumed away.
