Brazil’s state oil giant enters talks for four Ghana blocks after production falls to 37.3 million barrels

The negotiations come as Ghana tries to attract fresh exploration after crude production declined to 37.3 million barrels in 2025, its lowest annual level in several years.

Ghana’s Ministry of Energy and Green Transition subsequently approved the company’s application to negotiate exploration contracts covering four blocks.

The approval allows Petrobras and the Ghanaian authorities to begin direct discussions over the contractual terms. It does not mean the company has acquired the blocks or committed money to drilling.

No investment amount, exploration timetable or local partners were disclosed.

Ghana’s production problem raises the stakes

Ghana became an oil producer in 2010 following the development of the Jubilee field. Its other producing areas include the TEN and Sankofa-Gye Nyame fields.

However, production has fallen as existing fields mature and the country struggles to bring major new projects into operation.

Ghana produced approximately 37.3 million barrels of crude in 2025, according to its Public Interest and Accountability Committee. Petroleum revenue fell to about $770.3 million, from more than $1.36 billion in 2024.

The decline gives Ghana a strong incentive to bring experienced deepwater companies into underexplored areas such as the Keta Basin.

The Ghana Petroleum Commission recently entered an arrangement with energy-data company TGS to improve seismic information across the basin. The project is intended to give prospective investors a clearer picture of geological structures beneath the offshore area.

Petrobras’s interest provides an early test of whether better geological data can attract major international operators.

Brazil looks across the Atlantic

The Ghana negotiations are part of a deliberate African expansion by Petrobras, not an isolated approach.

Petrobras chief executive Magda Chambriard said in 2025 that Africa would become the company’s main exploration region outside Brazil. The company sees geological similarities between parts of the Brazilian and African Atlantic margins.

Reuters reported that Petrobras exploration and production director Sylvia Anjos sees similarities between Ghana’s Keta Basin and Brazil’s Equatorial Margin, where the company is pursuing new offshore reserves.

Petrobras developed much of its technical expertise in Brazil’s deep and ultra-deep waters. Its own company profile says technologies developed in the Campos Basin helped establish it as a major offshore producer.

That experience is now being directed towards African countries where oil companies are searching for the next generation of deepwater discoveries.

In February, Petrobras acquired a 42.5% interest in an offshore exploration block in Namibia alongside TotalEnergies. It has also expanded in São Tomé and Príncipe and examined opportunities in Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa.

Petrobras said in April that it was acquiring a 75% operating interest in an exploration block in São Tomé and Príncipe, adding to interests it had held in the country since returning to Africa in 2024.

The Ghana talks therefore form part of an emerging portfolio across the Atlantic coast of Africa.

Negotiations are only the beginning

Petrobras and Ghana must still agree on the fiscal, operational and local-participation terms governing the four blocks.

Even if contracts are signed, exploration would require seismic studies, drilling and commercial evaluation. Those processes can take years and may not produce a commercially viable discovery.

The company’s filing does not identify the four blocks, their combined size or the work programme Ghana is seeking.

For now, the confirmed development is that Petrobras has moved from expressing interest to direct negotiations. Whether that produces investment or new oil reserves will depend on the contracts and the results of future exploration.