Local content: Ghanaian companies earn $1.3b in contracts in five years
From 2003-2016, Ghana had increased the deployment of indigenous professionals in the petroleum industry, under the Local Content and Local Participation Policy.
Out of the 675 registered companies; 440 are Ghanaian companies registered with Petroleum Commission, Ghana to provide both direct and indirect services, whilst 66 others are engaged in joint ventures.
The policy aims at maximising the use of local expertise, goods and services, job creation, businesses and financing in the oil and gas industry value chain.
It develops local capacity in all aspects of the oil and gas value chain through education, skills and expertise development, transfer of technology and know-how and an active research and development portfolio.
The policy also aims at achieving at least 90 per cent local employment and in-country spend in the oil and gas industry value chain, within a decade of the start of every petroleum license or contract.
Mr Kawku Boateng of the Commission told a maiden Petroleum Commission, Ghana Media Encounter in Accra, on Wednesday that from 2010- 2015, $1.3 billion dollars were awarded to Ghanaian Companies.
An additional $270 million dollars were awarded to these companies at the time when global oil prices had dipped.
Tullow and ENN are the major operators in the oil and gas industry in the country.
The Commission was established by an Act of Parliament in 2011, Act 821 with the object to regulate and manage the utilisation of Petroleum resources in the upstream petroleum sector and coordinate the policies in relation to them.
Among other functions, the body develops a common qualification system to register and pre-qualify local service providers, set minimum standards requirement for local content plans, rigourous and transparent monitoring and reporting system, and analyse and evaluate procurement among others.
Mr Theo Ahwireng, Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, said since the Jubilee Field, 25 more oil discoveries have been made in the country.
These include the TEN Development Project, which would be the next development offshore and the Offshore Cape Three Points Development-oil field with gas find, with production to start in 2017.
Mr Ahwireng said under the Local Content Policy, most Ghanaian companies had a number of opportunities to explore but the lack of expertise hindered them, since most of these jobs were capital intensive, time driven and demanded technological know how.
He said despites these setbacks the Commission made sure that job components that could be done in Ghana came to the country, leading to the transfer of expertise.
He said with the right policies in place as well as the innovations by the local players in the industry, Ghana is making giant strides than countries in the Region that could boast of a number of years of experience in the sector.
Mr Ahwireng said the Commission aims at harmonising the aspirations of the local communities by striving to leave them in better conditions than when the oil operations started.
He explained that there are no scientific bases for speculations that the petroleum industry had led to the depletion of fish stock.
Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah, Chairman of the Board of the Commission said the organisation had done a number of things on the quiet in streamlining the upstream oil industry, and it was time to engage the media to shed light on some of these activities.
Source: GNA