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Ghana to Earn a Third More From Oil Proceeds, Databank Estimates

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Created on Friday, 08 April 2011 07:13

Ghana’s government will probably earn a third more from oil this year than previously estimated by Databank Financial Services Ltd., the investment bank said.

The West African nation’s proceeds from oil will reach about $800 million, up from an initial projection of $600 million, Sampson Akligoh, an economist at Databank, based in the capital, Accra, said in an e-mailed reply to questions today.

Finance Minister Kwabena Duffuor said in his budget speech on Nov. 18 that government revenue from oil may reach 584 million cedis ($386 million) this year. Crude oil has surged 34 percent in New York in the past six months and was trading as high as $109.37 a barrel today.

“We have raised our average crude oil price forecast for 2011 to $105 per barrel from $75, owing to ongoing market dynamics and the unrest in the Arab countries,” Akligoh said. “We are optimistic that production at the Jubilee field currently around 50,000 barrels per day will rise to more than 100,000 barrels in the second half.”

Tullow Oil Plc (TLW), the field’s operator, expects production to increase to 120,000 barrels a day later this year.

source: bloomberg