The Institute for Energy Security (IES) is calling on the government to immediately enforce Ghana’s Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) to guarantee a predictable supply of crude oil for local refineries, particularly the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).
In a policy research paper, the institute said Ghana already has a legal framework requiring petroleum contractors to sell a portion of their crude oil entitlement to meet domestic demand.
The framework is contained in Section 71 of the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 2016 (Act 919), and operationalised by Regulation 32 of the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) (General) Regulations, 2018 (L.I. 2359), as amended by L.I. 2390.
According to the IES, the main challenge is no longer the absence of a legal mechanism but its limited enforcement.
The institute noted that there is limited publicly available evidence of the required 90-day notices being issued by the sector minister, as well as the publication of annual domestic crude supply requirements and the use of the prescribed price-dispute mechanism.
IES believes the completion of TOR’s turnaround maintenance and the refinery’s return to operations have removed a major obstacle to enforcing the DMO.
TOR completed its three-month turnaround maintenance programme on its Crude Distillation Unit between August and October 2025 and resumed refining operations in December 2025. The refinery is currently reported to be operating at about 28,000 barrels per stream day, below its 45,000-barrel nameplate capacity, with plans to expand further.
The institute argues that a functioning domestic refinery now provides Ghana with a ready offtaker for crude that would otherwise be exported.
It is therefore urging the Minister responsible for the sector to issue the 90-day written notices required under Regulation 32 and place crude supply to TOR, and where relevant other domestic refineries such as Sentuo, on a recurring calendar-year basis.
IES also wants the Energy Commission and GNPC to publish the annual domestic supply requirement, broken down by month, to provide oil producers and refineries with certainty for planning.
The institute says predictable crude supply would help TOR plan its operations, improve domestic fuel availability and reduce Ghana’s exposure to disruptions associated with imported petroleum products.
It further argues that replacing part of refined-product imports with locally refined fuel could reduce demand for foreign exchange, potentially supporting efforts to stabilise the cedi.
However, IES cautions that enforcement must provide adequate crude volumes rather than symbolic allocations.
It points to Nigeria’s experience, where insufficient crude allocations to the Dangote refinery contributed to continued reliance on international crude purchases priced in US dollars, creating a mismatch between dollar-denominated costs and local-currency domestic sales.
The institute is consequently recommending that Ghana’s DMO enforcement be based on the actual throughput requirements of domestic refineries and adjusted as their capacity expands.
IES notes that Ghana already has the legal tools needed to implement the policy and should now move from ad hoc crude allocations to a transparent, predictable and calendar-based domestic supply system.
