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Out of 12 Sub Saharan African countries captured by Ecobank Research, Ghana placed 8th in terms of countries with the most expensive fuel prices.

According to data by the renowned research outfit, Nigeria which is the largest producer of oil in Africa has the least expensive fuel prices.

A litre of fuel costs about US$0.42 in Nigeria compared with about US$0.82 in Ghana, approximately GH¢3.21.

Interestingly, Angola which is the second largest producer of oil in Africa placed 5th with a litre of petrol going for aboutUS$0.835. This also confirms why the Portuguese speaking nation’s capital, Luanda is one of the most expensive places to live in Africa.

The Democratic Republic of Congo placed first with a litre of fuel going for about US$1.30 followed by Burundi with a litre of fuel going for US$1.15. Rwanda and Cameroon were 4th and 5th with a litre of fuel selling at about US$1.03 and US$1.01 respectively.

For the 6th and 7th positions were Uganda and Ivory Coast with a litre of fuel going for about US$0.835 and US$0.834 respectively.

Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Nigeria placed 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th respectively.

Out of the 12 countries surveyed, five of them are oil producing country. They are Nigeria, Angola, Cameroon, Ghana and Ivory Coast.

Presently, a litre of petrol is going for about GH¢3.23 while that of diesel is being sold for about GH¢3.20 on the pump market.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s oil production averaged 110,000 barrels per day in 2015 and the production level is expected to be sustained in 2016 despite Jubilee oil downtime.

According to a report, production from TEN is expected to augment volume lost during Jubilee’s downtime. The project remains subjected to international border dispute between Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana with judgment from International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in The Hague expected in 2017.

Additional revenue from TEN is likely to help enhance Tullow’s financial position after the company recorded losses in 2014 and 2015 due to decline in oil price and high impairment of assets and exploration cost.

Based on existing fields and field development plans, Ghana’s crude oil output is projected to hit more than 240,000 barrels per day by 2019, Ecobank Research earlier noted.

This could potentially make Ghana the fourth largest oil producer in Sub Saharan Africa by 2020, based on existing fields and planned field development in the top ten oil producing countries in the region.

Presently, Ghana is the 9th largest producer of oil in Africa with a production output of 103,000 barrels per day.

Nigeria is still the leader with a production capacity of 1.8 billion barrels per day followed by Angola with 1.7 billion barrels per day and Equatorial Guinea with 285,000 barrels per day. Neighbouring Ivory Coast produces 33,000 barrels of oil per day.