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Ghana's petroleum industry: expectations, frustrations and anger in coastal communities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2020

Jesse Salah Ovadia ,
Jasper Abembia Ayelazuno  and
James Van Alstine
Jesse Salah Ovadia*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, ON, N9B 3P4, Canada
Jasper Abembia Ayelazuno*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Communication and Cultural Studies, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana
James Van Alstine*
Affiliation:
School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
*
Email: Jesse.Ovadia@uwindsor.ca
Email: Abembia@yahoo.com
Email: J.VanAlstine@leeds.ac.uk
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Abstract

With much fanfare, Ghana's Jubilee Oil Field was discovered in 2007 and began producing oil in 2010. In the six coastal districts nearest the offshore fields, expectations of oil-backed development have been raised. However, there is growing concern over what locals perceive to be negative impacts of oil and gas production. Based on field research conducted in 2010 and 2015 in the same communities in each district, this paper presents a longitudinal study of the impacts (real and perceived) of oil and gas production in Ghana. With few identifiable benefits beyond corporate social responsibility projects often disconnected from local development priorities, communities are growing angrier at their loss of livelihoods, increased social ills and dispossession from land and ocean. Assuming that others must be benefiting from the petroleum resources being extracted near their communities, there is growing frustration. High expectations, real and perceived grievances, and increasing social fragmentation threaten to lead to conflict and underdevelopment.

Keywords

Ghanapetroleumlocal communitiessustainable livelihoodsfisheriesresource curse
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 58 , Issue 3 , September 2020 , pp. 397 - 424
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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Footnotes

The authors would like to thank Stanley Awinibono Apinya, Abdallah Alhassan and Iris Kophy, who provided research support. Jesse Ovadia gratefully acknowledges the support of the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University. Jasper Abembia Ayelazuno acknowledges the financial support of the Volkswagen Foundation through the Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Social Sciences in Sub-Saharan and North Africa. For the 2010 study, James Van Alstine acknowledges funding from the Alcoa Foundation, and thanks Jacob Manyindo, Rani Parker, Ben Agbemor, Ekow Baffoe Arkorful, Kyei Kwadwo, Gilbert Sam, and Bright Yeboah for their support and participation in this research project.

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