Many of the about 40 Ghanaian business entities that were led by Government Officials for the first time to attend the conference as part of a trade mission which also coincided with ONS conference have described the trip as useful and successful.

The Petroleum Commission (PC) Ghana, in collaboration with the Norwegian Energy Partners (NORWEP) organised the trade mission for the local firms, which served as an attraction to foreign investment, networking for business enterprises and for technology and skills transfer among the Ghana and Norwegian businesses.

The four-day event was held on the theme “Innovate”.

During an interaction with the officials of the government delegation at the end of the conference, Mr Joe Ofori, Chief Executive Officer of the Alaska Logistics Limited, an indigenous Ghanaian firm said the cost and time the companies spent on the trip had not been wasteful at all.

The government officials led by Mr Egbert Faibille, CEO of PC, Mr Joseph Cudjoe, Deputy Minister of Energy and Mr Lawrence Apaalse, Chief Director of the Energy Ministry, organised the session to get a quick feedback from the exhibitors and also take questions from the media.

Mr Ofori said some of the Ghanaian firms were able to establish good contacts, saying, what was needed was for them to do the necessary follow ups.

Mr Emmanuel Kofi Abbey, CEO of AB Engineering commended the Petroleum Commission for facilitating the Ghanaian firms to participate in such an international platform that had given them such a bigger exposure.

“The fact that the Government facilitated our visit to the conference has given us some credibility to the foreign firms” Mr Abbey said.

Mr Isaac Annochie, Managing Director of (7 Eleven Energy Services) said although his company already had a partner in Norway, the trade mission had added more credibility to his company in the eyes of his Norwegian partner.

Other exhibitors said aside the international platform that had been provided them; the government should find an effective business module that could empower the indigenous companies to play a more competitive role in the energy sector, so they could contribute to the building of the sector as had been done in Norway. 

Mr Faibille assured the local companies of government and the PC’s determination to work to provide a level playing field for local industries, as enshrined in the local content regulations.

He said the issue of the local content empowerment was very dear to the Commission saying, “we are working in a very proactive way to clear the path for people like yourselves and also others who are yet to come.

“If we will be remembered as the set that ensured that local content was taking to the level where we all want, we will be satisfied. Maybe others will come and look at the technical aspect but our focus is to ensure that we give our people the necessary empowerment so that we would not look back with regret with respect to earnings, capacity building and other relevant legal issues”.

Over 1,000 delegates attended the ONS conference that discussed key trends driving the oil market at present and the potential game changers of the future energy landscape.

The ONS summit held bi annually in the Scandinavian country, noted to be one of the world’s biggest oil producing country, is hosted by the ONS Foundation and the Munich Security Conference.

There were more than 570 speakers and some 1, 200 exhibitors including some Ghanaian companies who mounted their exhibits and interacted with businesses at the conference.

The ONS Summit provides an opportunity to have a broad dialogue on how countries could efficiently reach their policy goals, including the interaction with the private sector.