As part of a comprehensive strategy to expand the country’s energy infrastructure and maximise the value of its hydrocarbon resources, plans are afoot to construct three oil refineries, five hydro chemical plants and ten tank farms.
The Deputy Energy and Green Transition Minister, Richard Gyan-Mensah, made this public at the ‘2025 Invest in African Energies: Accra Investor Briefing’.
He stated that the planned facilities will significantly strengthen Ghana’s capacity to process and utilise its petroleum resources domestically.
“A 20,000-acre piece of land has already been secured at Jomoro in the Western Region for the construction of these facilities,” he said.
Each of the three new refineries will have a minimum processing capacity of 300,000 barrels of oil per stream day, a major scale-up from Ghana’s current refining capacity. The in-country refineries have been bedevilled with a string of issues.
State-owned Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has a capacity of 45,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd) but has faced several operational and financial challenges, including but not limited to maintenance issues, inefficiencies and financial mismanagement.
The Sentuo Refinery, with a similar capacity, has also had its fair share of challenges.
The plants are expected to complement ongoing upstream exploration and development projects and support the country’s objective of becoming a regional energy hub.
To ensure seamless execution, the Petroleum Hub Development Corporation has been established to coordinate with regulatory bodies and expedite permits for investors, Mr. Gyan-Mensah added.
The petroleum hub, commissioned under the last administratration, has itself not been without controversy. Recently, chiefs in the area raised concerns over more than GH¢1.2billion in compensation to landowners. Government has however offered assurances that the payments will be made.
Government also plans to expand gas processing capacity to meet rising demand from various industrial sectors, including power generation, cement, fertiliser, alumina and methanol production.
“A firm decision has been made for the construction of another 150 million standard cubic feet per day (mscfd) gas processing plant, in anticipation of additional volumes of gas from the country’s producing fields and sedimentary basin,” he indicated.
According to the ministry, this planned energy infrastructure will play a central role in Ghana’s efforts to increase domestic value addition, reduce dependence on imported refined products and create employment opportunities.
