Natural Gas as a Transition Fuel; Domestic Natural Gas Production and Energy Security in Ghana

This study seeks to examine domestic natural gas production impact on Ghana's energy security. The study employed the quantitative research approach using an explanatory research design. The study modified the Cobb–Douglas production function to establish the theoretical foundation to model the relationship between domestic natural gas and energy security. The researchers used secondary quarterly data derived from the Ghana Energy Statistics from 2000 to 2021. This study further employed the Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique to cointegrate the Granger causality test on important variables to achieve the study's objectives. The study's findings revealed a long-run relationship between domestic natural gas production and energy security variables based on the bound test. The study also revealed that the independent variables affect the dependent variable in the short and long run. This implies that domestic natural gas production improves energy security both in the short term and in the long run. The study recommends that policymakers should maintain current domestic natural gas production levels and invest in providing alternative natural gas supplies to Ghana.