Sustainable Decommissioning in Ghana: Historical Developments, Current Practice and Challenges

Abstract

When Ghana enacted its first piece of legislation dealing specifically with petroleum operations in the
upstream industry in 1984 - the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 1984 (PNDCL 84) - there was
only one provision in the Act which dealt directly with decommissioning. This paper takes an introspective
look at developments over time in putting in place an effective and sustainable decommissioning framework
for Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry. It analyses the gaps therein and traces attempts over time such as a
review by the Commonwealth Secretariat of existing statute, and proposals for a decommissioning scheme, to
close them. It analyses measures by the government and encapsulated in statute to fill those gaps and ensure
an efficient and sustainable framework. It analyses these developments through to the present when the
Saltpond Field is to be decommissioned - Ghana’s first decommissioning exercise. Analysing the practical
challenges in decommissioning the Field, impacts and risks, and that of Ghana’s upstream industry in general,
the paper concludes that Ghana has through myriad measures strived to ensure that its framework is
sustainable and situations such as the current one for instance where it is the government - and not the
contractor - paying for decommissioning is averted.