The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has escalated its dispute with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and its subsidiary, Explorco, to the Office of the Attorney-General (AG).

This follows repeated demands for the entities to account for more than US$561 million in petroleum revenues failed to secure compliance.

PIAC’s latest report shows that Explorco, GNPC’s oil exploration subsidiary, failed to account for and transfer petroleum revenues amounting to US$561,648,785.37 due the Republic between 2022 and 2024, despite several recommendations and directives issued by the Committee over the period.

Central to the controversy is whether Explorco, as a commercial subsidiary of GNPC, can legally retain proceeds from petroleum liftings outside the Petroleum Holding Fund structure, or whether all such revenues must accrue directly to the state under the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA).

According to Act 815, the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011: “petroleum revenue due the Republic derived from whatever source shall be assessed, collected and accounted for by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA),” while such revenues “shall be paid by direct transfer into the Petroleum Holding Fund.”

According to the Act, the PHF was established “to receive and disburse petroleum revenue due the Republic.”

Consequently, PIAC insists GNPC and Explorco must account for and transfer the outstanding US$561.6 million into the PHF, warning that failure to resolve the matter risks undermining the credibility and integrity of the country’s petroleum revenue management regime.

PIAC subsequently tabled the matter before Parliament’s Select Committee on Finance during deliberations on the latest report, after repeated concerns raised in its annual and semi-annual reports failed to trigger corrective action.

PIAC’s position on the matter has remained consistent over the years.

Explorco, or its predecessor company JOHL, lifts petroleum for GNPC, which is a state-owned entity. Therefore, proceeds from that lifting necessarily belong to the state and, irrespective of the status of Explorco under the Companies Act, must be deposited into the PHF.

GNPC’s refusal to transfer the proceeds into the Petroleum Holding Fund is a dangerous precedent for the country’s petroleum governance framework.

Chairman of PIAC, Richard Kojo Ellimah, said public trust in GNPC as our national oil company will be eroded if this attitude continues and that will be disastrous.

Section 3 of the PRMA makes the transfer of petroleum revenues into the Petroleum Holding Fund mandatory.