Automating regulatory compliance in the upstream oil and gas sector of Ghana

This project originated as part of the PhD work of my student Joseph Anim. It applies Semantic Web technologies to compliance checking in Ghana's upstream petroleum industry, focusing on local content and participation as governed by the Petroleum (Local Content and Local Participation) Regulations. The research demonstrates that Semantic Web technologies are highly effective for automating documentary compliance checks. Results have been presented in [Anim et al. 2024].

This research represents a pioneering effort to apply advanced Semantic Web technologies to real-world legal compliance challenges, providing a scalable and efficient solution for Ghana's upstream petroleum industry and potentially for other regulatory domains. The work has since received funding through the ESRC Impact Accelerator Account to initiate discussions with the Ghana Petroleum Commission.

As part of the ESRC IAA project, we developed a mock-up of the application and visited the Ghana Petroleum Commission in May 2025. Subsequently, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commission. We then secured a new ESRC IAA project to continue this work, aiming to scale up the web application for industrial use.