Parliament’s energy committee says the money is needed to help the Petroleum Commission manage upstream data as Ghana works to lift oil output.
Parliament's Select Committee on Energy wants the Ministry of Finance to release GH¢5.6 million to the Petroleum Commission so the regulator can set up and run what the Committee describes as a world-class data centre.
The Committee says the facility would give the Commission stronger capacity to store and manage critical upstream petroleum data — the geological, drilling and production information that guides decisions on where and how Ghana's oil and gas is developed — and improve its day-to-day operations.
The appeal was made during a working visit to the Commission, part of the Committee's routine oversight of state agencies in the energy sector, as reported by Ghanaian Times.
Production rising again
Committee Chairman Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah linked the request to a wider effort to revive Ghana's upstream petroleum industry, which has seen investment and hydrocarbon output slide in recent years.
He said Parliament's approval of an extension of a petroleum agreement to 2030 had helped pull in extra funding and lifted production from roughly 80,000 barrels per day to about 120,000 barrels per day.
That matters beyond the industry. Oil revenue feeds the national budget through petroleum receipts, and steadier output affects how much government has to spend on everything from roads to social programmes.
Questions over the Voltaian Basin
The Committee was less comfortable with another line of spending. Members raised concerns about repeated budget allocations for oil exploration in the Voltaian Basin, the large inland sedimentary area in central Ghana that the state has been probing for hydrocarbons.
Mr Bedzrah said money approved for exploration must show real results, and that the Committee would want clear evidence of progress before backing any further allocations to the programme.
Commission outlines its case
The Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission, Emeafa Hardcastle, briefed the MPs on the Commission's mandate, which covers the regulation, management and coordination of upstream petroleum activity in the country.
She said that since she took office in 2025, government has been working to reverse the fall in crude production, hold output steady and make Ghana a more attractive investment destination in what she described as an increasingly competitive African petroleum market.
She also told the Committee that government had secured fresh commitments of about US$35 billion to help revitalise the sector. The source report does not break down where those commitments come from or over what period they would be spent.
What happens next
The Committee is due to wrap up its monitoring exercise with visits to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), which regulates the downstream petroleum market including fuel pricing, and the Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL), the state-linked fuel retailer.
The Finance Ministry has not publicly responded to the request.
