The figure also constitutes an increase over the $783.33 million in petroleum revenue the country recorded in 2021.

Apart from the 2022 revenue from petroleum production, the other highest receipts of $978.02 million and $976.09 million were recorded in 2014 and 2018, respec­tively.

A member of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), Alhaji Suleman Anderson, who gave the figure, was speaking at a three-day engagement with editors and morning show hosts at Elmina in the Central Region.

The workshop, held in part­nership with GIZ, witnessed the presentation of the 2022 annual report compiled by the Committee.

Participants were taken through 2022 PIAC Annual Report on the management and use of petroleum revenues, as well as other petro­leum revenue management-related issues.

Alhaji Anderson explained that, the significant increase in the price of crude oil on the global market was due to the Russia-Ukraine war and favourable international crude oil prices.

He said “the Russia-Ukraine war only gave us trouble down­stream but compensated us at the upstream level for the losses we incurred downstream.”

He however, stated that, despite the increase in petroleum revenue in the country, oil production was on the decline, with 51.1 million barrels of crude oil in 2022 as against 55.05 million barrels of crude oil in 2021.

“Crude oil production has been declining for three consecutive years. The average decline over the three-year period is 10 per cent,” he explained.

“There is a need for Ghana to speed up the sustainable develop­ment of its petroleum resources to reverse the decline in petroleum production through the attraction of new investors as well as the early completion of ongoing proj­ects,” he said.

Alhaji Anderson indicated, con­tinues rise in surface rental arrears from $2.58 million in 2021 to US$2.77 million in 2022, explaining that, 65 per cent (US$1.80 mil­lion) of the arrears were owed by four contractors whose petroleum agreements were terminated in 2021.

The report, therefore, called on the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to intensify its efforts in the collection of surface rental arrears.

He indicated that, the report cited Ghana National Petroleum Corporation’s (GNPC’s) continu­ous spending on projects that goes contrary to its core mandate.

According to Alhaji Anderson, it was the view of PIAC that, GNPC should concentrate more in build­ing its capacity to effectively posi­tion the institution in the sector.

Alhaji Anderson further said that, per the report, GNPC’s expenditure on various line items, mainly administrative expenditure and its capital projects, witnessed significant increases of more than 200 per cent in 2022.

GNPC’s continued funding of the construction of roads in the Western Corridor enclave, he explained, constitute quasi-fiscal expenditure.

Such projects, he indicated, should be the responsibility of the central government.