The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has urged the Min­istry of Energy to prioritise investor attraction in the petroleum sector, to sustain production levels despite Ghana's long-term renewable ener­gy transition plans.Speaking on the committee's 2024 petroleum revenue report on the management and use of petro­leum revenues in Ghana, during PIAC's zonal media engagement on Friday, a member representing Think Tanks, Mr Samuel Bekoe, said petroleum revenues amounted to about US$1.3 billion in 2024, the second-highest since oil pro­duction began.He revealed that a larger share of the revenue came from carried and participating interest and royalties.However, Mr Bekoe expressed concern over a consistent decline in petroleum production, noting a 7 per cent drop in the five-year average output.He warned that the trend reflected dwindling investments in exploration and called on the Energy Ministry to urgently design policies tailored to attract and retain investors."We are recommending that the ministry encourages and designs investment attraction programmes by considering investor needs and creating packages that can bring in more investors to invest in explora­tion," he explained."This will help sustain petroleum production until the government's 2070 renewable transition target is fully achieved," he added.Mr Bekoe stressed that although Ghana had committed to shifting to renewables, petroleum resources remain vital for economic stability and should be maximised responsi­bly in the medium term.Beyond exploration, he empha­sised, PIAC raised concerns about accountability in petroleum revenue management.He added that the committee noted that over US $400 million generated from GNPC's Jubilee Oil Holdings investment remains lodged in GNPC's subsidiary, Ex­ploco, instead of being transferred to the Petroleum Holding Fund, as required by law.Mr Bekoe warned that that practice undermined transparen­cy and could expose the state to financial liabilities."PIAC also highlighted gaps in government's allocation of petroleum revenues, pointing out that despite industrialisation being identified as a priority area for 2023-2025, no funds were disbursed in 2024," he stated.The committee further urged the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to recover outstanding surface rentals owed by compa­nies whose petroleum agreements were terminated in 2021.Moreover, Mr Bekoe em­phasised that addressing these concerns would particularly boost investor confidence in exploration and would be crucial if Ghana was to sustain petroleum revenues and channel them effectively into national development.PIAC's Coordinator, Mr Isaac Dwamena, reiterated its commit­ment to strengthening collabora­tion with the media to enhance public understanding of petro­leum revenue management.According to him, the com­mittee had resolved to engage journalists in every region where it undertakes project inspections to ensure that citizens were well-in­formed about how petroleum revenues were utilised. FROM AMA TEKYIWAA AMPADU AGYEMAN, KOFORIDUA