While the Ghana state’s oil refinery is struggling to come back live, a private giant has emerged to single-handedly reshape the country’s energy landscape.
The recently published CBOD’s 2024 Petroleum Sector Report, reveals that the Sentuo Oil Refinery, a 40,000-barrel-per-day facility, has rapidly moved from a newcomer to the dominant force in local fuel production.
According to the report, Ghana witnessed a staggering 60% increase in total refinery output in 2024. On the surface, this looks like a national success story, but a closer look reveals that this growth was almost entirely driven by one company.
Sentuo’s production jumped from 86,877 metric tonnes (MT) in 2023 to 312,070 MT in 2024. This 260% increase is largely because the refinery moved from a limited start-up phase in late 2023 to full, year-round operations in 2024.
By the end of the period, Sentuo alone accounted for 65% of all petroleum products refined within Ghana’s borders.
While Sentuo flourished, the rest of the industry faced a “production drought”. The report indicated a stark contrast: every other local refinery in Ghana saw its output shrink in 2024.
State-owned and smaller private refineries were hit hard by challenges in procuring crude oil for processing. As these older facilities stalled, Sentuo’s ability to maintain a steady supply of crude allowed it to capture the market, effectively becoming what can be described as the “last man standing” in the local refining space.
The refinery’s output is focused on the products Ghanaians use most;
• Gasoil (Diesel): 34% of its output.
• Gasoline (Petrol): 27% of its output.
• LPG (Cooking Gas): 25% of its output.
Because Sentuo is now a major supplier of LPG, its success is directly linked to the country’s goal of making clean cooking fuel more available, even as other refineries fail to contribute.
In addition to the refinery, the private sector’s share of fuel storage capacity surged from 37% in 2022 to nearly 46% in 2024. This significant shift was driven almost entirely by Sentuo’s massive new tanks. Currently, Sentuo holds nearly 24% of all privately held storage capacity in the country.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, earlier this month, challenged Sentuo Oil Refinery to deepen local content participation, even as he praised the company for its growing contribution to Ghana’s downstream petroleum sector.
The NPA boss made this appeal during a working visit to the Sentuo Refinery on Monday, January 5, 2026, where he led a team from the NPA to engage management and staff as part of efforts to strengthen regulatory collaboration and support industry growth.
The refinery was commissioned as part of China’s Belt and Road Development Strategy. The commissioning of the refinery has shifted the balance of infrastructure ownership in Ghana.
