Fuel imports surge 36.7% , as local refining crawls 

By Kingsley Webora TANKEH

Petroleum imports into the country surged 36.7 percent to hit 8.71 billion litres in 2025 from the 6.2 billion litres in 2024, the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies (COMAC) has reported.

The COMAC Full-Year 2025 Analysis of Petroleum Product Volumes, referencing data from the Bank of Ghana (BoG), stated that the petroleum import bill alone reached an estimated US$4.95billion from US$4.63billion the previous year.

According to the report, refined petroleum product imports rose from 5.06 million metric tonnes in 2024 to 6.92 million metric tonnes in 2025 – representing an additional 1.86 million metric tonnes of foreign supply flowing into the country in 2025 alone.

Petroleum products represent 30 – 32 percent of total national import expenditure – making fuel the single largest import category of the economy.

This is partly due to declining domestic refinery production. Local processing slumped 11.3 percent in 2025. This underscores a chronic underutilisation of local refining capacity which leaves Africa’s largest gold producer exposed to global oil price volatility and foreign exchange pressures.

Currently, Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) processes 28,000 barrels per day with plans of increasing to 45,000 barrels per day while Sentuo Oil is reportedly processing around 40,000 barrels per day.

Local refinery production accounted for only 6 percent of petroleum product supply in 2025, having dropped from 9 percent in 2024. This underscores strong reliance on imported petroleum products.

Interestingly, much of the locally refined products is exported. For instance,  export or re-export of locally refined petroleum products increased from 524,603 metric tonnes in 2024 to 658,500 metric tonnes in 2025.

Meanwhile, national daily consumption stands at 21.41 million litres.

Processing volumes at the two domestic refineries remain significantly below total national consumption, which stood at 7.45 billion litres in 2025. Last year’s consumption represents a 15.29 percent increase from 2024, driven primarily by petrol and diesel which together accounted for nearly one billion litres of additional demand.

“Imports remain the dominant source of petroleum product supply, accounting for over 90 percent of national supply in 2025,” the report stated. “This dependence exposes the sector to international oil price volatility, foreign exchange risks and global supply chain disruptions.”

Domestic refinery production fell from 500,612 metric tonnes in 2024 to 444,264 metric tonnes in 2025. This contraction resulted from the Sentuo Oil Refinery shutdown in the first and second quarters and low output from TOR.

Production however recovered strongly in the third quarter, exceeding 255,000 metric tonnes.

The report revealed that 100 percent of domestic crude – crude produced from the country’s oil fields – light and sweet crude – is exported because it commands premium prices internationally.
It added that refined products derived from cheaper heavy crude are also imported into the country.

The report noted: “With these developments, local refining could potentially meet around 18 to 25 percent of national fuel consumption in the coming year, provided refinery operations remain consistent and are supported by stable crude supply and adequate financial investment”.

COMAC stressed that the 2025 average cover of three to six weeks was “broadly in line with other African countries, but significantly below international standards and below the resilience threshold required to absorb a major supply disruption”.

It therefore warned that “current storage capacity is inadequate and doubling capacity would provide at least a one-month supply buffer”.

COMAC therefore called for domestic refining capacity to be strengthened through “intentional, deliberate and bold intervention in investment into local refineries”, coupled with expanded strategic storage infrastructure.

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