During the British colonial era, Ghana was known as the “Gold Coast” for its prolific gold deposits. Now, as in many countries before it, Ghana’s recent discovery of a major offshore oil field has created a mixture of exuberance and trepidation.

For Ghana, one of the most peaceful and relatively prosperous countries in West Africa, the start of oil production in late 2010 would seem to come as good news. With the peaceful transition of power from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government in 2009, Ghana hopes that its star will continue to shine and that oil revenues will help accelerate the country’s effort to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015. But, as so many other countries have shown, it is a difficult and tortuous journey to move from the generation of oil wealth to its proper investment. In too many other countries, oil booms have bred corruption, underdevelopment, social conflict, and environmental damage. The onset of oil production presents Ghana with its next great test. Ghana has an enviable record of good governance and stability. Despite this progress, Ghana is still a poor country of 23 million people dependent largely on primary commodity exports-cocoa, gold, timber. Almost 80 percent of Ghanaians live on less than $2 a day. The country has made some progress on economic diversification, but oil could add to the economy’s overreliance on commodity exports subject to price swings that make development planning difficult.

Billions of dollars will flow into the government treasury, but Ghanaians are all too familiar with corruption, poor development outcomes in the country’s mining communities, and the tragedy of Nigeria’s squandered oil wealth. For the international oil industry, the 2007 “Jubilee” find-called one of the largest recent finds in Africa—has generated enormous interest in the country’s hydrocarbons potential. By 2011, estimates are that Ghana will be producing approximately 120,000 barrels of oil per day, along with significant quantities of gas. The International Monetary Fund has predicted that government revenues from oil and gas could reach a cumulative US$20 billion over the production period of 2012–30 for the Jubilee field alone.

Oil wealth tends to erode democratic accountability. Ghana’s challenge will be to ensure that the right institutions and transparent policies are in place before oil production starts. The previous NPP government launched a “homegrown” effort to tackle the challenges of the oil era, establishing technical committees composed of government staff and expatriate Ghanaians to address issues from the fiscal regime to gas utilization. The state oil company, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, has made some disclosures to the public, but key details remain secret, including the oil contracts as well as the development plan for the Jubilee field. While the NPP government put forward transparency and good governance as key principles for the sector, it sent worrying signals as well - for example, a National Forum on Oil and Gas Development was by invitation only and included just three civil society members.

While a draft policy paper and national regulatory authority bill were developed in 2008, many significant steps in building the institutional, legal, and regulatory system to govern the oil and gas sector rest with the new government. Since there will be a relatively short time frame for oil production - likely 20-30 years - it will be important to ensure that money is used wisely from the outset and that investments are sustainable once the money runs out.

The needed institutions, regulations, and transparency measures should be in place early on to avoid the corrosive and corrupting effects of oil booms seen elsewhere in Africa. Because the Jubilee field is in development, the government does need to move at deliberative speed to be able to manage this large project. At the same time, Ghana needs to be careful to control the pace of the development of the petroleum sector so as to not let commercial developments outstrip the capacity of the government and society as a whole to meet the myriad challenges.

In many ways, speed is not Ghana’s friend. Ghana should set its own timetable for the further development of the petroleum sector. By moving quickly, mistakes can be made that could decrease Ghana’s “take” from the sector and undermine accountable management of the resource. A few examples:

• Government will need to sequence tasks in developing the laws, regulations, and institutions for the sector.
• Rather than negotiating many deals at once, government can learn from experience and negotiate better deals over time. A common refrain is “he who drafts, wins,” and Ghana can develop improved negotiation skills over time.
• Allowing for civic participation takes time but will benefit the country in the long run through better policy decisions and greater ownership of these decisions. The attitude that “there is too much to do and talking to civil society takes time” is ultimately counterproductive.
• Regulations need to be in place before the impact. Social and environmental regulations and protections need to be in place before projects get under way rather than after, as was the case with many gold-mining projects. Because of stabilization clauses, contracts signed now will lock in the currently deficient regulatory regime. Ghana should not want to license all of its petroleum acreage before the regulatory framework is in place.
• Early spending could be bad spending. If Ghana’s budget and spending systems need improvement, massive early spending of oil money could prove to be wasteful spending.

Ghana’s oil boom is happening in an era of increased attention to the problems of resource-rich states, and Ghana has important opportunities to learn from the positive and negative examples of others. This report makes extensive recommendations for the government, companies, donors, and others. There are steps these actors should take to support the transparent, accountable, and efficient development of Ghana’s oil wealth. For example, the government of Ghana should ensure that payments from companies to the government, as well as contracts, are in the public domain. The government should also enact a moratorium on new exploration licenses to allow Ghana’s legal and regulatory framework, and institutional development process, to catch up. Companies should volunteer to disclose their payments and contracts and participate in Ghana’s Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. In exchange for technical assistance project finance, donors should insist on full transparency and participation of citizens and civil society in the decisions regarding the development of the petroleum sector and oversight of natural resource wealth.

While these steps-and many others in the full set of recommendations - are not, by themselves, a simple recipe for overcoming the threats posed by the coming oil boom, it is difficult to see Ghana succeeding without them.