Natural Resource and Local Communities: Evidence from Ghana’s offshore oil and gas

Patricia Agyapong

No 2026-02, CSAE Working Paper Series from Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford

Abstract: In 2007, Kosmos Energy and Tullow Oil found Ghana’s most significant column of high-grade offshore oil and gas. In this paper, I use geocoded household data to examine the socio-economic effects of this oil and gas discovery on the local communities. I conduct two quasi-experimental analysis and find that oil and gas discovery increased real income for households close to the fields, with the benefits being larger for households in districts with a high proportion of skilled workers and limited to non-poor districts. However, there is no apparent effect on employment, total consumption expenditure and poverty.

Keywords: natural resources; oil and gas; local economic impacts; household welfare; spatial difference-in-differences; Ghana (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 D31 O13 Q33 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-min and nep-uep
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