1 Social Impact Assessment Of Oil And Gas Exploration In The Western Region Of Ghana: A Case Study Of Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis Gabriel Senanu Akakpo 1 Abstract This study discusses social impacts of offshore oil and gas development on human communities in the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis in the Western Region of Ghana. Current study attempted to do a social impact assessment of the oil find on the people of Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis. In all 95 respondents with varied educational background were sampled for the study using a multiple sampling approach. Questionnaires and interviews were the main research instruments applied to the study. The study revealed that the people had high expectations prior to the commercial production but these expectations were not being met fully. The study showed people’s awareness that aside the benefits of oil find such as growing employment and business and/or investment opportunities, there are also some social costs that associate with it. These include the increasing cost of living, human and vehicular congestion and other social vices. The study recommends some measures such as education and training, good governance together with strong media watch-dogs be put in place to mitigate the social costs. It was concluded that though the oil find has brought some social benefits to the indigenes of Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis, the social costs far outweigh these benefits due to the frequency and rate of their occurrences. Key Words: Social Impact Assessment, Social Costs, Social Benefits. Introduction Oil is a resource commodity with special characteristics. These include its unique role as both common natural heritage of a country and the motor of global industrialization; its price volatility and consequent boom-bust cycles (which can be beneficial or detrimental); its high capital intensity and technological sophistication; its enclave nature; and the exceptional generation of profits that accrue to the state and to private actors. The combination of these factors produces what has been called the “paradox of plenty” (Karl, 2007). As a lucrative commodity, it has empowered many countries that produce it for export, in terms of improving the lives of the populace and increasing their political power among other nations. For Batekega (nd), Oil and gas industries bring risk and opportunities which require mitigation by the key stakeholders such as government, regulators and operators. Oil and gas exploration and production business generates significant revenues for national economies in addition to the potential energy supply, employment generation and purchasing power for those involved. Africa has historically been known as a continent with rich natural resources but with high levels of poverty. Undisputedly, Africa is considered to be well-endowed with minerals including fossil fuels but the exact potential of these resources has been insignificant in some countries. The existence of these resources in a country can accelerate growth and social development, if used strategically. Indeed, countries lucky enough to have oil can base their development on such a resource looking at the potential benefits from enhanced economic growth, the creation of jobs, increased government revenues to finance poverty alleviation programmes, the transfer of technology, improvement of infrastructure 1 Gabriel S. Akakpo (M.Phil) is a Lecturer at the Marine Engineering Department, RMU, Ghana