Ghana has incurred an estimated US$46.73 million in demurrage charges on petroleum imports so far in 2026, with the costs potentially adding between GHS 0.47 and GHS 0.60 to each litre of fuel, the research group CEMSE said in a statement dated 5 November 2026.
According to accounts of the statement published by MyJoyOnline and Citi Newsroom, CEMSE puts demurrage at between 2.63% and 3.35% of retail pump prices. It estimated cumulative demurrage of about US$61.6 million in 2025, against a historical annual estimate of about US$35 million.
CEMSE linked the charges to delays in discharging imported petroleum products and Ghana’s reliance on a single major facility at Tema Port, which it said handles about 75% of discharges. It said petroleum product inflows rose by about 73%, from 3.53 million metric tonnes in 2015 to 6.09 million metric tonnes in 2025, while the number of bulk oil distribution and export companies rose from 37 to 53 over a similar period, without matching growth in alternative mooring capacity.
The group urged the government to review a reported 15-year exclusivity arrangement granted to a South African operator in 2015, remove barriers to competing facilities and plan alternative discharge infrastructure. As of 5 November, the reports said there had been no public government response to that call.
The figures are CEMSE estimates reported by news outlets. StatsGH has not independently obtained the underlying statement or an official National Petroleum Authority confirmation of the demurrage totals. MyJoyOnline and Citi Newsroom also expand the CEMSE acronym differently; this article uses the abbreviation as published.
Sources: MyJoyOnline; Citi Newsroom.