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The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, speaking at the 2022 Local Content Conference and Exhibition held in Takoradi on the theme “Sustaining Local Content Development through Enhanced Exploration and Production Activities in The Era of Energy Transition’’ said the choice of the region provided the opportunity for participants to engage in the oil and gas sector.
Local content, he reasoned, should ensure the development of local materials and resource in communities, adding “the resources belong to all of us.”
Mr. Darko-Mensah added that the conference would also ensure stratagems are outlined to ensure transparency, openness, and the maximization of the oil and gas potential for communities
Speaking at the same event, Mr. Egbert Faibille Jnr, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Petroleum Commission Ghana revealed that Ghana has made significant strides in taking advantage of Local Content Development opportunities presented by its growing industry since oil was discovered.
Some Ghanaian companies have been awarded contracts to provide essential services and goods to international oil companies during exploration and production.
In 2020 for instance, out of a total of $1.3 billion of service contracts awarded in the oil and gas sector, $238 million thereof in value terms went to Indigenous Ghanaian Companies
About $ 1.1 billion also went to Joint Ventures including Indigenous Ghanaian Companies (IGCs).
Additionally, as of the end of the 3rd Quarter of 2021 Indigenous Ghanaian Companies and Joint Ventures benefitted from the value of service contracts worth $ 5.2 million and $45Million respectively out of a total sum of $ 54 million.
He said Ghana like other resource-rich developing economies has been confronted with the energy transition.
He added that one of the key effects of the transition has been the systematic shift in investments from fossil fuel development projects to renewable energy.
He noted that the upstream petroleum sector continues to face several challenges which to a large extent stifling the growth and development of indigenous participation in the sector.
‘It is therefore important that we strive to eliminate all barriers to local participation in our industry”.
“It is on this basis that the Commission worked with the Ministry of Energy to obtain Parliamentary approval for amendments to L.I. 2204 to further deepen local content in Ghana’s upstream oil and gas industry”, he disclosed.
He said, “This is to ensure that Local Content Agenda in the upstream oil and gas industry can still go alongside the need to attract foreign direct investment for the industry”.
He mentioned that the Commission will continue to train Ghanaians to international standards to replace expatriates in the upstream petroleum sector, in furtherance of job role localization.
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