The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), on Monday schooled a large Scottish trade delegation on Ghana’s flourishing oil and gas industry.

Dr Kwame Amoah Baah-Nuakoh, the General Manager, Sustainability, GNPC, hailed Ghana’s healthy investment climate and stable economy, which encouraged investment inflows.

He said Ghana was an oil and gas producer with enormous potential; stating that the nation had strong legal and regulatory framework for the upstream oil and gas sector.

The visit, which is from April 9th -11th, is aimed at giving the delegation a thorough understanding of local market conditions, while investigating local investment opportunities.

It is intended that this would be achieved through Scottish companies partnering with local Ghanaian oil and gas companies interested in bringing new technologies and skills to Ghana.

Speaking on the topic “An Overview of Ghana’s Oil and Gas Sector”, Dr Baah-Nuakoh said several opportunities existed in the upstream and value chain business of the oil and gas industry, with opportunities for joint venture partnerships as well as investments in the gas and power infrastructure.

He said the upstream industry in the country currently was dominated by international companies such as ENI, Tullow, Anadarko, Hess and Kosmos.

He noted that participation by Ghanaians was limited due to inadequate technical and commercial expertise, huge capital investments constraints and generally low risk appetite of Ghanaian.

Dr Baah-Nuakoh said Ghana’s total proven oil and gas reserves as at December 2017 of 1,185.9MMboe; adding that the nation had over 36,000 km² and 103,600 km² of open offshore and onshore acreages.

He said the favourable ruling from International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) had kept Ghana’s offshore territory largely intact.

On development in the oil and gas sector, Dr Baah-Nuakoh said Hess field was currently at pre-development phase; declaring that plan of development would be submitted in July 2018.

He said the Greater Jubilee field development – Plan of Development (POD) had been approved by the sector Ministerand development activities on Sankofa Gye Nyame (SGN) project were far advanced towards the achievement of First Gas from the fields by end of June 2018.

He said Ghana had 17 Petroleum Agreements currently in operation, whereas the 18th Agreement with ExxonMobil was subject to Parliamentary Ratification.

Dr Baah-Nuakoh said GNPC’s overarching strategic objective was to be a Stand-alone operator by 2019 and World-class operator by 2027 and the Volta Basin Project was GNPC’s flagship project and main strategic vehicle for achieving operatorship.

He said the area had a huge inland sedimentary basin constituting almost 40 percent of Ghana’s land mass and covering an area of 103,600 sq.km and the main project objective was to find a hydrocarbon presence in the basin.

He said the GNPC was pursuing the six-year initial exploration phase of the Voltaian basin on a standalone basis.

The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Iain Walker, described Ghana as a good destination for investors and Ghana was keen on making sure that ‘it is the most business-friendly government in Africa’.

He said due to Ghana’s friendly business climate, a number of British Companies were already doing business in the country.

The leader of the delegation, Mr Cameron Douglas, Scottish International Trade Advisor for Sub-Saharan Africa at Scottish Development International Scotland (SDI), United Kingdom, said Ghana was the gateway to the West African oil and gas sector due to its relative stability and ease of doing business.

He said Ghana presented a great opportunity for Scottish companies looking to explore the West African sub-region.

Mr Andrew Monaghan, the Regional Manager Africa, SDI, said the interest in the trade delegation’s visit had been great from both the Scottish and the Ghanaian sides and the collaboration between the UK and Ghana in the oil and gas sector was for their mutual benefits.

Mr Derrick Cobbinah, the Head, Operations, UK – Ghana Chamber of Commerce (UKGCC), said the Chamber facilitates and promotes trade and commercial relations between the UK and Ghana.

He said their doors were opened to Scottish companies who wanted to do business in Ghana.

He announced that the UKGCC would be taking 40 Ghanaian chief executive officers to London next week for the United Kingdom – Ghana Investment Summit.

Madam Teki Akuetteh of Fidelity Law Group, whose presentation was on “Legal Overview of Doing Business in Ghana”, said the local content law sought to ensure that Ghanaians also benefitted from the oil and gas discoveries.