Mr. James Yamoah is the Director, Petroleum Upstream at Ghana’s Ministry of Energy. Prior to joining the Ministry of Energy, James had held several executive and management positions at the National Oil Company; the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) including General manager HSSE, General Manager Technical and Chief Operating Officer. He currently oversees Ghana's upstream operations, which comprise pre-licensing, licensing, exploration and appraisal, field development and production, disposal, and decommissioning and deputize the Director, Petroleum.

James is a geoscientist who received a US government grant in 2010 to train as an Emerging Leader in the Environment and Extraction Program at Duquesne University, Pittsburg. USA.
He holds a geology degree from the University of Ghana and a Master's degree in Petroleum Geoscience from both Heriot Watt University and Edinburgh University. He also has a Master of Finance and Strategy degree from Manchester Metropolitan University and a graduate of PETRAD’s Program in “Petroleum Policy and Resource Management” in Stavanger, Norway.
James has close to 2 decades of experience in Oil and Gas sector. Along with being a member of SEG and AAPG, he serves on the Ghana Institution of Geoscientists' (GhIG) council.