A seven member local content committee of the Petroleum Commission has been inaugurated to implement and monitor local content targets for the oil and gas sector.
The local content law which took effect in February this year seeks to put Ghanaians at the forefront of all petroleum activities, while ensuring foreign oil companies also get fair returns on their investments.
The Ghana Oil and Gas Service Providers Association (GOGSPA) is demanding Ghana achieves 60% of the local content law within the next three years.
According to government it aims to achieve 90% local participation by 2020.
Per the local content law, local businesses must be given first preference in bids for petroleum licenses, while Ghanaian companies must have at least a 5% stake in every contract awarded to an international investor.
Inaugurating the committee at the commissioning of the new official building of the Petroleum Commission at Dworwulu in Accra, the deputy minister of energy and Petroleum, Benjamin Dagadu said the committee must ensure sustained growth of local service providers in the oil sector.
The members include acting Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission Theophilus Ahwireng (Chairman), two board members of petroleum commission including Bishop Akolga, Emefa Hard-Castle.
The others include the Director of Special Services at the Petroleum Commission, Kweku Boateng, a representative from the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) Ken Owusu, a representative of the Ghana Oil and Gas Service Providers Association (GOGSPA) Nuertey Adzeman and a Member of Parliament for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa constituency Georgina Aboa.
Meanwhile the board chairman of the Petroleum Commission Professor Ivan Addae Mensah has revealed that Ghana saved some 1.4 billion dollars following the Petroleum Commission’s technical scrutiny of the original plan of the Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) oil fields.
The government of Ghana approved the plan of development for the 4.5 billion dollar project in 2013, to be developed by Tullow and its partners.
The TEN fields are located in the Deepwater Tano licence , around 20kiliometers west of the Jubilee Field and are on track to deliver first oil by mid-2016.
According to Professor Ivan Addae Mensah, the technical staff of the commission must be commended for saving Ghana this huge amount of money.
By: Rabiu Alhassan/citifmonline.com/Ghana