Africa’s largest gold producer makes first-ever carbonate reservoir discovery as it plans a 300,000-barrel refinery to expand its role in West Africa’s fuel market

President John Dramani Mahama announced the discovery on Tuesday at a conference in the Western Region, describing it as a breakthrough that could expand Ghana‘s exploration opportunities beyond the sandstone formations that have hosted its previous commercial oil and gas discoveries.

The discovery was made at the Nya Gyidie-1X exploration well in the Deepwater Cape Three Points block, approximately 148 kilometres offshore Ghana, according to Reuters.

According to Mahama, the discovery marks the country’s first successful test of a Cenomanian-Turonian carbonate play as a primary exploration target.

The geological formation represents a new exploration opportunity for Ghana, where previous commercial hydrocarbon discoveries have been concentrated in sandstone reservoirs.

Planet One Oil & Gas, which operates the block alongside GOIL Upstream Ltd and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, confirmed that hydrocarbons were encountered at the exploration well.

The block covers approximately 1,454 square kilometres, while the well was drilled in water depths of 2,289 metres, highlighting the technical demands of exploring Ghana’s deepwater resources.

Despite the discovery, the type and commercial size of the hydrocarbon find remain unclear.

Planet One’s Chief Executive, Andaleeb Sehgal, said further evaluation was ongoing to establish the scale of the discovery and determine the most appropriate development approach.

He added that the company had the technical expertise required for deepwater development and planned further onshore and offshore exploration drilling over the next 12 to 18 months. The well’s name, Nya Gyidie-1X, means “have faith” in the Akan language.

The discovery comes as Mahama’s government seeks to revitalise Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry, attract investors and replace declining reserves.

Ghana has also signed an agreement for a proposed $28 billion expansion of its Petroleum Hub, which includes plans for a 300,000-barrel-per-day refinery as the country seeks to strengthen its role in West Africa’s fuel processing and distribution industry.

Energy Minister John Jinapor described the latest discovery as a significant milestone in those efforts.

While commercial production prospects will depend on further technical assessments, the carbonate discovery could give Ghana a new geological target to pursue as it searches for additional hydrocarbon reserves.