PHF receives US$126.41 million in first half of 2016

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong

Semi-annual report for the first half of 2016 suggests that an amount of US$126.41 million was received into the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF), the Bank of Ghana has said.

This comprised of US$114.40 million being proceeds of the 30th 31st and 32nd liftings of crude oil from the Jubilee Field undertaken by the Ghana Group.

According to the report, about US$12.00 million was also coming from gas sale, taxes, royalties, surface rentals and interest earned on undistributed lifting proceeds held in the PHF.

The report mentioned that out of this amount, corporate tax totaled US$2.29 million and interest on undistributed funds was US$0.04 million, surface rental of US$0.38 million and gas sale proceeds amounted to US$9.30. “A total amount of US$ 0.30 million received in first of half 2016 will be distributed with the proceeds of the 32nd lifting in second half 2016,” it added.

“Total amount distributed from the PHF in first half of this year was US$87.15 million, including other income of US$20.92 million (US$9.21 million was received in second half of 2015),” the report noted.

The Petroleum Holding Fund Account (PHF) at the end of June this year, held a balance of US$48.673 million which comprised undistributed petroleum receipts amounting to US$48.473 million and a mandatory balance of US$200,000.00.

Meanwhile, the total amount received by Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) for the period was US$45.07 million compared to US$92.03 million for the second half of 2015.

It stated that the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) received an amount of US$22.77 million for Carried and Participating Interest (CAPI) and Equity Finance Cost (EFC) in first half 2016 compared to US$60.52 million in second half of 2015.

Also, the Ghana Stabilization Fund (GSF) and the Ghana Heritage Fund (GHF) received US$$13.52 million and US$$5.79 million respectively within the first six months of 2016 while an amount of US$15.17 million and US$6.05 million were received respectively within the last six months of 2015.

The semi-annual report mentioned that cumulatively, ABFA received a total of US$1,420.14 million representing 43 percent of the total revenue from the allocation of funds since 2011 to end of end of June 2016 while GNPC received a total amount of US$991.58 million equivalent to 30 percent of total revenue.

“The GSF and GHF had each received an amount of US$617.88 million (19 percent) and US$255.72 million (8 percent) respectively. Total lifting proceeds and other income distributed to ABFA, GNPC, GSF and GHF from inception to the end of June 2016 amounted to US$3,285.31 million,” the report noted.

There were no withdrawals from the GSF during the first six months 2016 under Sections 12 and 23 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA), 2011, (Act 815). The cap of US$200 million set for the GSF in the 2016 Budget was not attained in H1.

The central bank said the performance of the Ghana Petroleum Funds’ portfolios improved at the end of June 2016 relative to second half of 2015.

Adding that return on investment of Ghana Heritage Fund (GHF) for the period was 4.93% compared to 0.74% in second half of 2015. Ghana Stabilization Fund (GSF) returned 0.33% in this year compared to negative 0.01 percent in 2015.

At the end of June 2016, net return on investment of the Ghana Petroleum Funds since inception was US$16.21 million compared to US$13.14 million in second half of 2015.