Ghana’s petroleum downstream sector remains heavily dependent on imports with locally refined products accounting for only about 24 percent of the country’s fuel supply between January and August 2026, according to the National Petroleum Authority. 

The data means that roughly three-quarters of the fuel consumed in Ghana during the eight-month period was sourced through imports, underscoring the country’s exposure to developments in the international petroleum market. 

Speaking at a media training organised by the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies (COMAC) on September 29, 2026, the Director of Economic Regulation and Planning at the NPA, Abass Ibrahim Tasunti said the NPA continues to balance domestic production with imports as part of efforts to ensure adequate fuel availability across the country.

“We get about 24% of the products, let me say of all the supply of petroleum gas we've had from January to August this year, 24% has come from domestic production. That's from January to August 76% of that has come from imports. And so you see that we are very heavily import reliant country. So assuming TOR was not there would have been doing somewhere around just 20% or maybe even less than that,” he said.

He added that the NPA’s import planning is guided by the country’s domestic production levels and consumption requirements.

He referenced that the authority monitors national consumption and assesses how much of the country’s demand can be met through local production before determining the quantity of products that needs to be imported.

“So knowing our consumption, knowing what we can produce domestically, then we plan the rest to be imported. So as domestic production increases we reduce imports. As domestic production reduces, we increase imports,” he stressed.

He further explained that import volumes are adjusted in response to changes in domestic production, arguing that when local production increases, improvers are reduced and a decline in domestic production leads to increased imports.