The Ministry of Energy has laid out a plan to train 1000 Ghanaians annually to gain various technical skills needed in the oil and gas industry.

As part of the laid out plan, 200 Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) will also be provided with the capacity to gain a competitive advantage in the industry annually as well as 300 employees of public institutions will be adequately prepared to support the development of oil and gas policies, and enforce industry regulations.

This was made known during the launch of a new capacity building programme by the Government dubbed “Accelerated Oil and Gas Capacity (AOGC) Programme” in Accra on Tuesday, November 7, 2017.

According to the President in a speech read on his behalf by the Minister for Energy, Boakye Agyarko, the programme is aimed at empowering Ghanaians and Ghanaian companies with the requisite skills for them to actively participate in Ghana’s oil and gas industry. He further noted that Government is determined to expand opportunities in the oil and gas industry, and use it as a catalyst for the rapid transformation of the country.

With regards to increasing Ghana’s upstream production profile, the President announced Government’s plans to partner national and international oil and gas exploration companies to take up more acreage in offshore basins to accelerate exploration. “The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation has also embarked on aggressive onshore seismic campaigns for the future development of the Voltain Basin” he emphasized.

He also cautioned companies holding oil blocks under various Petroleum Agreements to demonstrate commitment and execute their contractual obligations because Government reserves the right to exercise options available to it including termination of Agreements if they fail to comply with the terms agreed with Government.

The President urged all stakeholder especially the managers of the AOGC Programme, Petroleum Commission, to ensure that all activities under the Programme meet the high standards, as set out by national and international accreditation institutions.

The occasion ended with commissioning and touring of state of the art oil and gas facilities and a welding, fabrication and mechanical workshop constructed by the Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project (OGCBP) for Regional Maritime University (RMU).