Ghana signs agreement for $28 billion petroleum hub expansion with planned 300,000-barrel refinery

Ghana has signed an agreement for a proposed $28 billion expansion of its Petroleum Hub, including a 300,000-barrel refinery, as it seeks a larger role in West Africa’s fuel processing and distribution industry.

• Ghana has signed an MoU for a proposed $28 billion expansion of its Petroleum Hub.
• Plans include a 300,000-barrel refinery, petrochemical plants, storage and a jetty.
• Initial construction activity is targeted for early 2027, subject to preparatory requirements.
• Financing, land acquisition and compensation remain key hurdles.

The Petroleum Hub Development Corporation (PHDC) signed the memorandum of understanding in Accra on 19 October with a consortium led by UAE-based Global Sphere, involving investors and technical partners from South Korea and Mali.

The announcement sets out the proposed investment, but financial close has not been established. Ghana’s Energy Minister, John Abdulai Jinapor, has acknowledged that financing, land acquisition and compensation issues still need resolving before the project can advance.

The development, designated Lot Two, would include two petrochemical plants, four million cubic metres of storage and a multi-berth jetty alongside the refinery. Its scale reflects an ambition to build an industrial and trading centre serving markets beyond Ghana.

According to Citi Newsroom’s report on the announcement⁠, PHDC chief executive Toni Aubynn said development was expected to take five years. Initial construction activity in Jomoro is targeted for the first quarter of 2027, subject to preparatory requirements being completed.

The proposal could help President John Dramani Mahama’s government expand domestic processing and create business opportunities for engineers, construction firms, logistics operators and other suppliers. Aubynn linked the hub to the administration’s industrialisation plans and 24-hour economy agenda.

Those benefits depend on the consortium turning its commitment into financed and functioning infrastructure. The published announcement does not establish the debt and equity funding mix, the partners’ ownership stakes or whether lenders have committed capital.

Ghana’s petroleum hub ambitions predate the latest agreement. In August 2024, then-president Nana Akufo-Addo held a groundbreaking ceremony for a separate first phase, valued at $12 billion and also featuring a planned 300,000-barrel refinery.

Reuters reported at the time⁠ that the wider development faced questions about commercial viability and opposition from some residents over its land footprint. That history makes the current financing and compensation arrangements central to assessing the new proposal.

The regional market has also changed since Ghana first outlined its plans. Nigeria’s Dangote refinery began commercial operations in 2024, bringing a major new source of locally processed petroleum products into a market historically reliant on overseas supplies.

The US Energy Information Administration records that Nigeria’s petroleum product exports increased sharply that year as the refinery started operating.

Ghana’s challenge extends beyond securing investment. The hub’s commercial viability will depend on reliable crude supplies, competitive processing costs, dependable shipping infrastructure and sufficient demand for its output.

Landowners and surrounding communities have a direct stake in how the project proceeds. Jinapor has pledged to involve the finance and lands ministries and the Attorney-General’s Office in resolving outstanding obstacles.

The next milestones will therefore be evidence of committed funding, agreed land arrangements and construction activity, steps that would begin to show whether the proposed hub can deliver Ghana’s regional energy ambitions.