Govt. Ready to Support Private Initiatives in Capacity Building in Oil & Gas

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wpid-ghanaoil.jpgGovernment is ready to support private initiatives that seek to provide capacity building and skills training in the oil and gas industry, Energy and Petroleum Minister, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has stated.? According to him, capacity building is another critical area of concern to Ghana in its quest to develop an indigenous energy economy.

?This challenge provides another opportunity for investors willing to provide training covering all levels in the country?s technical, vocational and tertiary institutions in the areas of gas engineering, geosciences, petroleum operations and management.? Government will provide the needed support to any investor that would venture into these areas.?

The Minister stated this last week when he opened a two day oil and gas career fair, conference and exhibition in Accra. The event, a joint initiative of the Ghana Oil Club, Business World magazine and Hired Capital has the objective of addressing one of the biggest challenges of local content in the oil and gas industry in Ghana- The employment needs of the oil and gas industry.

According to him the need to build capacity of the people in terms of finance, technology and human resources is long overdue and cannot be overemphasized, adding that it is imperative that a nation upon discovery of the vital natural resource as oil and gas puts the necessary measures in place to promulgate a judicious acquisition of optimum benefit from the resource.? This according to him is because oil is a non-renewable natural resource while the industry is also often times saddled with a complexity of ensuing issues.? He emphasized the need for policies and measures that would ensure that the nation derive more from the oil find.

?One such critical measure is the policy framework on local content and local participation.? It has been labelled as the most reliable instrument to advance the stake of the people of the nation in the oil and gas industry in a sustainable manner. For us in Ghana, the policy framework essentially seeks to carve a comprehensive course in our quest to realize the maximum benefit from the oil and gas industry.?

He said the lack of knowledge as to the requisite skills needed to gain employment in the oil and gas industry has been a major challenge, and expressed the hope that the fair would provide the platform for exploration and service companies to demonstrate the opportunities that may exist within their entities.

?In the spirit of goodwill and the need to maximize the benefits of a depleting resource to the nation and her people, current and future generations, the policy makers of Ghana deem the need to develop a local content and participation policy for the oil and gas sector a fundamental prerequisite.? This policy is expected to drive the sustainable development of our oil and gas endowment through the identification of stakeholders and their roles, capacity building and training, technology transfer and its indigenization, infrastructural development, creation of a conducive and thriving environment for optimum local participation and the integration of the oil and gas sector into the long term national development plan.? The Minister stated.

He said the need to build capacity in terms of finance, technology and human resources cannot be overemphasized, while re-echoing the importance of a policy framework on local content and local participation.? It has been labelled as the most reliable instrument to advance the stake of the people of the nation in the oil and gas industry in a sustainable manner.

The government and people of Ghana by the local content policy framework are seeking to ensure capacity development in terms of employment of Ghanaians, use of Ghanaian goods and services, transfer of technology and know-how, indigenization of knowledge and ownership.

The oil and gas career fair was segmented to cater for recent graduates and professionals who are looking to either further their education in specialized oil and gas field or transition into a career in the. Students from institutions all over Ghana, including Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Mines- Tarkwa, University of Ghana, All Nations University, Takoradi Polytechnic and several other training institutions participated in the event.

Three leading UK Universities, Robert Gordon, Aberdeen and Cranfield also took part in the conference and exhibition which was also graced by a broad spectrum of speakers including petroleum engineers, academia, Policy Makers and Entrepreneurs? in the oil and gas sector who shared their experiences on how they transitioned into the oil and gas sector to inspire a new generation of oil and gas experts in Ghana.

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