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The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, has reiterated the need for the region to benefit from Ghana’s upstream petroleum operations.
“We should not also lose sight of the fact that we need to keep a keen interest in ensuring that West Region is not short-changed in the development of the local content.
“I am for local content. The Western Region, by virtue of proximity, the oil and gas resources has become a major ally of the oil and gas industry,” he outlined.
Mr Darko-Mensah said this at the Petroleum Commission Local Content Conference and Exhibition (LCCE) which ends in Takoradi today on the theme, ‘Attracting exploration and production investments to boost local content, new pathways.’
Though he agreed that every natural resource belonged to the whole country, he pointed out that stakeholders and players should be reminded that “the industry is borne by this region.”
He further recalled last year, he advocated that the petroleum upstream sector invested about 70 per cent of the local content Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the region.
Mr Darko-Mensah told participants that realising the contribution of the Region to the oil and gas sector, government had built a modern headquarters for Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) in the region, which had been inaugurated recently.
He requested the occupation of the building for the hiring and procurement decisions in the industry to be done in the region.
Furthermore, he also expressed concern about the implication of the current global trends on the prospects of local content in Ghana and the Western Region, noting that, the economic structure and dynamics of the region had evolved due to the fluctuations in the industry.
Currently, Mr Darko-Mensah reported the housing sector, fishing, farming and hospitality business revolved around the industry and that further several peripheral economic activities that were tied to the oil and gas industry.
He then suggested that the challenges facing the industry required innovation and thinking to keep up with the dynamics and agreed with the theme of the conference.
He was happy about the blending and storage facility of 2en Chemical Ltd, a 100 per cent Ghanaian company in the region, stating that, “choosing partners for your business in the oil and gas sector, come to Western Region.”
According to Mr Darko-Mensah, the energy transition and its consequential implications for financing oil and gas projects in developing countries, had become a major worry over the years and was excited that the conference would discuss the issues.
He added, “Naturally, if the transitions are making difficult for oil and gas industries, raising money in the local market will be differently impacted. I am aware of some initiatives of the Ministry of Energy and the petroleum commission to manage this situation and to maintain and grow awareness upstream petroleum industry.”
He was confident that the wealth of knowledge and expertise gathered here will come out with other innovative ideas to support government policies.
Moreover, Mr Darko-Mensah reiterated that this industry had become a forum of all social and economic activities which affected the fortunes of the region and assured his office that he would help to contribute to industry growth.
