There are four basins in Ghana and they are as follows;

Tano-Cape Three Point Basin/ Western Basin

The Tano-Cape Three Points Basin is a Cretaceous wrench modified pull-apart basin. It is bounded by
the Saltpond Basin in the East and the St. Paul Fracture Zone in the West. The basin is the eastern
extension of the Cote DIvoire-Ghana Basin and formed as a result of trans-tensional movement during
the separation of Africa and South America, and opening of the Atlantic in the Albian.

Active rifting and subsidence during this period resulted in the formation of a deep basin. Prevailing
conditions at the time were ideal for the deposition of shales, thus thick organic rich shale was deposited
in the Cenomanian and Turonian. Several river systems contributed significant clastics into the deep basin
and led to deposition of large turbidite and channel complexes.

The basin is made up of a rift section which comprises shallow marine to continental deposits and a thick
Upper Cretaceous drift section which is dominated by basin floor fans, stratigraphic traps and channel
systems. The working play type is the Cretaceous Play, which consists of Cenomanian-Turonian and
Albian shales as source rocks with Turonian slope fan turbidite sandstones and Albian sandstones in tilted
fault blocks as reservoirs. Trapping is both stratigraphic and structural.

The hydrocarbon potential of Ghanas portion of the basin has been known since the 1890s based on
onshore oil seeps but the first major discovery was made in 2007 by Tullow Oil Ghana (Jubilee Field)
with oil production commencing in 2010. The hydrocarbon prospectivity of the basin is also well known
in Cote DIvoire where there are producing fields including Baobab, Belier, Espoir, Foxtrot, Lion and
Panthere.

The Saltpond Basin/Central Basin

The Saltpond Basin is a Paleozoic wrench modified pull-apart basin centrally located between the Tano-
Cape Three Points and Accra-Keta Basins. It covers an area of approximately 12,294 sq km. Sediments
in the basin were deposited in non-marine to coastal marine environments, and ranges in age from
Ordovician to Cretaceous. The basin has been stratigraphically divided into formations based on
lithofacies and depositional environments.

These are from oldest to youngest: Elmina Sandstone (Late Ordovician-Early Silurian), Tarkoradi
Sandstone (Devonian), Takoradi Shales (Middle Devonian-Early Carboniferous), Efia Nkwanta Beds
(Late Carboniferous-Permian), Sekondi Sandstone (Triassic-Early Jurassic) and the Lower Cretaceous
sediments. The structure of the basin is characterized by multiple faulting, which has resulted in a
complex set of horsts and grabens.

Unlike the Tano-Cape Three Points and Accra-Keta Basins, the Romanche Fracture Zone has limited the
shallow water area available in the basin for exploration and development.

The only known and proven petroleum system in the Saltpond Basin is the Lower Paleozoic Petroleum
System. This system has Devonian source rocks and Devonian to Carboniferous reservoirs. The two main
source rocks are the Lower and Upper Takoradi Shales. These are dark grey shales with predominantly
Type II kerogen and moderate to good TOC and HI values.

The reservoirs are sandstones of the Takoradi Sandstone Formation. Trapping is both structural (fault
bounded blocks) and stratigraphic (sandstones interfingering into shales) with sealing provided by the
Tarkoradi Shale formation.

The Accra-Keta Basin/ Eastern Basin

The AccraKeta Basin is a Cretaceous wrench modified pull-apart basin structurally bounded by Chain
Fracture Zone in East and Romanche Fracture Zone in the West. It covers an area of approximately
33,900 sq. km of which 1900 sq. km is onshore.

This basin is the western extension of the Dahomeyan embayment that stretches east covering Togo,
Benin and Western Nigeria and ending just before the Niger Delta in Nigeria.

The basins formation history has been divided into:

Pre- Rift Stage comprising Precambrian to Late Jurassic rocks

Syn-Rift Stage comprising Lower Cretaceous rocks and,

Post Rift Stage represented by Upper Cretaceous to Tertiary sequences

Studies suggest the presence of a working Cretaceous Petroleum System, with at least two key mature
source rocks: Early Cretaceous lacustrine shales with Types II and III kerogen and Turonian-
Coniacian organic rich shales.

Numerous Syn-rift Albian, Late Cretaceous and Tertiary reservoirs exit. Both stratigraphic and
structural trapping mechanisms are present, with the former predominating. Several horizons mapped
and interpreted on seismic sections as Cretaceous-Tertiary shales could provide sealing. Potential
exploration plays such as basin floor fans and ponded turbidites exist in the Upper Cretaceous and
Tertiary.
The Voltaian Basin

The Voltaian Basin is an asymmetrical inland basin covering about 40% of Ghanas continental landmass.
It stretches into Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso. The basin formed during the Pan African Orogeny about
six hundred million years ago (600 Ma) as a result of the collision between the stable West African Craton
and the Pan African Mobile Belt, which are represented in Ghana by the Birimian Supergroup and the
Dahomeyan System respectively.

Sediments are of shallow marine to continental origin and comprise sub-horizontal beds of sandstones,
shales, mudstones and conglomerates, which range in age from Precambrian to Paleozoic.

The thickness of sediments exceeds 6000m in the deepest portion of the basin. The Voltaian Basin has
great potential to hold significant petroleum resources. Soviet Geologists observed viscous black oily
bitumen in core samples of sandstones, shales and siltstones of the Oti Group in Middle Voltaian,
suggesting the presence of a working petroleum system. The basin has been stratigraphically divided into:

Upper Voltaian, which comprises massive and thinly bedded sandstones with some shales.

Middle Voltaian, which comprises sandstones with limestone intercalations (Upper Greenish-Grey
Series), shales with limestone intercalations, siltstones, silty sandstones (Variegated Series) and
conglomerates.

Lower Voltaian, which comprises sandstones, shales and siltstones (Lower Greenish-Grey Series) and
quartz sandstone (Basal Sandstone Series).

REFERENCES

1. Bozhko, N.A., 2008, The oil potential of the Voltaian Basin: presented in the Voltaian Basin,
Ghana Workshop (Accra) and the Excursion (Eastern Region), March 10-17, p. 32.

2. Brownfield, M.E., and R.R. Charpentier, 2006, Geology and total petroleum systems of the Gulf
of Guinea Province of West Africa : U.S Geology Survey Bulletin 2207-C, p. 32.

3. Aryeetey, D.K., E. Hegner, A. Rocholl, and D. Atta-Peters, 2005, Provenance of the Late
Ordovician to early Cretaceous sedimentary rocks from Southern Ghana as inferred from Nd
isotopes and trace elements: J. African Earth sci., v. 41, p. 318-319.

4. Sedimentary Basins Petroleum Commission Ghana.