Ghana begun to pump commercial oil at the latter part of last year and forming part of efforts to educate Ghanaians to capitalise on the employment opportunities, a one day workshop will be organised by Kenson Training Institute at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
Kenson Training Institute is an institution registered under the Registration Council of Trinidad and Tobago and authorised to offer wide range of programmes in the oil and gas sector.
A lecturer at the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department of KNUST, Dr. Stephen Donyimah says, the programme slated for July 6 is designed to cover various aspects of the oil and gas industry ranging from safety, drilling, environmental risk, process of oil and gas production, transportation of oil and gas, refinery operations, storage and offloading systems as well as gas processing.
On the issue of hedging Ghana’s oil, he said that, “oil is a commodity that has its price fluctuating frequently and it is a good thing to do because the current price is very attractive. Ghana as a developing country cannot compete with the countries that have been producing oil and gas for years. If the experts have done their calculations well then I presume the hedging should be ok. A time will come where it will be free and when we are noted as an oil producing nation and experienced we will not have to gamble with the hedging issue.”
Dr. Donyimah however condemned the emergence of non accredited institutions offering courses in oil and gas and has called on government to clamp down these institutions.
“Some of us are very much worried about people without credibility offering training especially in the Western Region and my colleagues are planning on meeting the government to put checks to that so that people who want to train individuals in this area will be accredited, not that any group of people who gather materials somewhere will train people and give them certification and they cannot be employed in the oil and gas industry. So there is great concern,” he lamented.

By David Apinga, Focus FM, KNUST, Kumasi