The HFC Bank is ready to support players in Ghana’s oil and gas industry to speed up and sustain economic growth, HFC Bank Managing Director, Robert Le Hunte, has said.

Speaking to journalists after the Bank’s local content seminar on Oil and Gas industry, Mr Hunte said the Bank would leverage on the experience of its parent company, the Republic bank, to support stakeholders in the industry.

“We are ready and have the financial capacity to support players in upstream, midstream and downstream sectors,” he said.

The maiden seminar was to create a platform for the bank and the private sector to discuss the prospects and challenges of the oil and gas industry.

It also sought to introduce the stakeholders to the product portfolios of HFC Bank for the oil and gas industry, and also discuss measures to support local players in the sector.

Mr Hunte lauded the government for developing local content policies to ensure that indigenous companies play active roles in the oil and gas industry.

He, however, said building the financial capacity of the local companies was also necessary for them to meet the huge financial demands and urged the financial institutions to help support the capacity of the locals in the oil and gas industry.

Mr Theophilus N. Ahwireng, the Acting Chief Executive Officer, Petroleum Commission Ghana, said the prospects for the oil and gas industry were bright and urged banks and other financial institutions to exploit the opportunities to expand their business portfolios.

He said there were huge business opportunities from licensing, exploration, appraisal and development (extraction) and decommissioning.

For instance, he said, the value of investment for oil development (extraction) alone was more than $7 billion.

For his part, Mr Anthony Jordan, the General Manager of HFC Bank in charge of Risk Management, said the Republic Bank in 2014 supported the oil and gas industry to the tune of $444 million.

He said the bank had lots of products for the oil and gas industry and urged players to take advantage of such products to finance their operations.