Ghana’s petroleum downstream sector entered the current Middle East energy crisis in a stable condition, positioning the country to better manage the economic impact of the ongoing disruption to global oil supply, a senior government energy adviser has said.
Technical Advisor to the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition, Dr Yussif Sulemana, made the assessment as the Strait of Hormuz crisis, triggered by coordinated United States and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, 2026, continues to reverberate across global energy markets.
The strikes, carried out under Operation Epic Fury, targeted Iran’s military facilities, nuclear sites, and senior leadership. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responded by declaring the strait closed to commercial shipping, causing tanker traffic to collapse and more than 150 vessels to anchor outside the corridor.
The disruption has caused Brent crude futures to surge as much as 13 percent, with at least five tankers damaged, two crew members killed, and about 150 ships stranded around the strait.
For Ghana, a net oil importer of refined petroleum products, the crisis presents a direct risk of higher import bills, currency pressure, and rising transport, food, and manufacturing costs due to its heavy dependence on refined fuel imports from Gulf suppliers.
Dr Sulemana, however, indicated that the downstream sector’s current state of readiness gave Ghana a buffer against the immediate shock. The Ghana Report noted this week that the case for Ghana’s planned Petroleum Hub project has been strengthened by the crisis, arguing that the hub’s proposed 10 million cubic metre storage capacity would function as a national emergency fuel reserve during future disruptions of this kind.
Ghana’s own upstream production, drawn from the offshore Jubilee and Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme (TEN) fields operated through the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and international partners, is not routed through the Strait of Hormuz, giving the country a degree of insulation from the supply chain disruption affecting Asia-bound oil flows.
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) regulates fuel pricing and supply security for the domestic market and has not announced emergency measures, suggesting the immediate situation remains manageable.
