Ghana has broken ground on a new petroleum refinery, according to a Reuters report, summarized in today’s Africa Center for Strategic Studies’ Daily Media Review as follows:
“Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo has broken ground on the construction of a 300,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery that the government hopes will turn the West African country into the region’s petroleum hub…. Ghana, the world’s second biggest cocoa producer, became an oil producer in 2010. Output is currently around 132,000 bpd of crude oil and about 325 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas….”
“Phase one of the project, estimated to cost $12 billion, will be funded and constructed by a consortium of Touchstone Capital Group Holdings, UIC Energy Ghana, China Wuhan Engineering Co., and China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Co.,” he said on state-owned Ghana Television (GTV).
Touchstone Capital Group Holdings (of the Touchstone Group) is Chinese. It has experience in Asia, Southwest Asia, and Europe. At least one of its partners has had experience in Belt and Road work. The projected capacity of 300,000 bpd is about half of the ultimate capacity of the new Dangote refinery in Nigeria (650K bpd), which is currently operating at about 325K bpd.