The Jubilee partners have organized a dialogue dubbed ‘The Jubilee First Oil Dialogue’ on Friday 26th at the Accra International Conference center.
The dialogue was aimed at facilitating national discussions on how Ghana can make the most of its oil find. The participants included the Jubilee partners, business leaders, stakeholders and key media who deliberated on some challenges related to the oil find. The two-session dialogue dealt with Local content in Ghana’s oil field and Ghana’s oil find; its prospects for development. The event was chaired by Mr. Ato Ahwoi, Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).
One of the major challenges raised at the dialogue was the preparation of the indigenous people living in the catchment area of the oil find and how production is going to affect them. One of the panelists, Tufuhemaa of Heman Prestea, Nana Abena Apee was of the view that not much has been done by way of sensitization of the people. Mr. Ato Ahwoi however, said the challenge must be tackled somehow. He added that the pace of development of the field could in a way be blamed for the inadequate preparation.
Other panelists included Mr. Kofi Bucknor, Managing Partner at Kingdom Zephyr, Dinah Quashie-Idun of Tullow Ghana, Prof. Abeeku Brew-Hammond of the Energy Commission and Director of the Energy Centre of KNUST, Dr. Kwesi Botchwey, former Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Thomas Manu, Director of Operations GNPC, Nana Owusu Afari, President of the Association of Ghanaian Industries and Sheba Safo-Adu of Standard Chartered Bank.
Another issue that was highlighted was the fact that there seems to be the misconception that Ghana would become an oil rich country once production begins next month. The President and General Manager of Tullow Oil Ghana, Dai Jones in his opening remarks said that expectations must be managed.
Participants were vocal about the trend where despite the talk of local content, the oil exploration firms tend to encourage foreign companies they’ve done business with in the past to set up in the country. This prompted Mr. George Owusu of E O Group, to propose the need to reserve some sectors of supply services to Ghanaians only, to curb this trend.
On capacity building for the oil sector, Dr. Botchwey, revealed that there are government plans underway for the training of 200 Ghanaians overseas in all aspects of the Oil Industry.
The First Oil dialogue was the initiative of the Jubilee partners –Anadarko, E.O Group Ghana Ltd, GNPC, KOSMOS Energy, SABRE Oil and Gas and TULLOW Oil.
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