Ghana signs $28bn deal with UAE-led group for Jomoro refinery and petrochemicals hub

Ghana’s Petroleum Hub Development Corporation (PHDC) has signed an agreement with a United Arab Emirates-led consortium for a proposed $28bn refining and petrochemical development, although financing has yet to be secured.

The agreement, signed on October 19 in Accra with a consortium led by UAE-based Global Sphere, covers the second phase of Ghana’s Petroleum Hub project in Jomoro, in the Western Region. Ghanaian media described the instrument variously as a memorandum of understanding and a build-own-operate investment and land development agreement.

The consortium, which includes investors and technical partners from Mali and South Korea, plans to develop a refinery capable of processing 300,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd), two petrochemical plants, storage facilities with a capacity of four million cubic metres and a multi-berth jetty.

Initial activities at the project site are scheduled for the first quarter of 2027, subject to completion of preparatory requirements, with development targeted for completion within five years, Citi Newsroom reported.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Energy and Green Transition Minister John Abdulai Jinapor said the project would establish a link between Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry and downstream processing facilities, supporting President John Dramani Mahama’s ambition to expand domestic value addition.

“Today’s signing ceremony is not the culmination of the process; it is the beginning,” Jinapor said.

Consortium representative Boubacar Belco Bah said financing arrangements were still being structured, including strategic equity participation, long-term debt and credit enhancement mechanisms, according to Graphic Online.

“Ultimately, our success will be measured not by the agreement we sign today, but by the commitments we honour and the results we achieve together,” Bah said.

He said the project would create opportunities for local employment, training and supplier development, and for Ghanaian enterprises to participate in its value chain.

The proposed refinery would be substantially larger than Ghana’s existing crude production. The country produced 37.3mn barrels in 2025, equivalent to about 102,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC).

Output declined for the sixth consecutive year, falling from a peak of 71.44mn barrels in 2019. Jinapor told African Energy Week in Cape Town this month that production had risen by about 30% this year, crediting a $2bn agreement signed in 2025 with the Jubilee and TEN field partners that extended their licences to 2040.

The refinery’s planned capacity of 300,000 bpsd is nearly three times Ghana’s average daily crude production, although the figures use different operating-day measures. Operation near full capacity would require substantial imported crude unless domestic production increased.

The development would also enter a competitive West African refining market alongside Nigeria’s Dangote refinery, which has expanded its crude processing capacity to approximately 700,000 bpd and plans to increase it to 1.4mn bpd by 2029.

The latest agreement forms part of a wider petroleum hub initiative originally estimated to require $60bn across three phases. On completion, the hub is planned to comprise three refineries with a combined capacity of 900,000 bpsd, five petrochemical plants and 10mn cubic metres of storage.

In June 2024, Ghana signed a separate $12bn agreement with the TCP-UIC consortium for the first phase, including another refinery with a planned capacity of 300,000 bpd. Then-president Nana Akufo-Addo broke ground on the first phase in Jomoro in August 2024, but substantial construction has yet to begin, with land acquisition and compensation disputes among the obstacles.

In March 2026, PHDC confirmed that the government had reduced the proposed project’s land requirement from 20,000 acres to approximately 12,300 acres following objections from affected communities.

At the October 19 signing, Jinapor pledged to coordinate discussions with the finance and lands ministries and the attorney-general to resolve outstanding land acquisition, compensation and financing issues.

PHDC chief executive Toni Aubynn said the agreement marked a further step towards implementation, with the corporation aiming to move the project from planning into construction.

See IntelliNews: Nigeria’s Dangote refinery raises throughput above nameplate capacity to 700,000bpd ahead of IPO

See IntelliNews: Ghana strikes $2bn oil deal with global energy firms to extend Jubilee, TEN production to 2040