The Chief Executive of Petroleum Commission, Mr Theophilus Ahwireng has touted the prospects of the country’s gas production as it is set to produce about 300 million cubic feet of gas daily by 2018 from its oil and gas fields.

“The good news here is that Ghana has an unyielding demand for gas in the power sector and the hydro sources are limited therefore we are optimistic that we will have the market to consume all the gas locally,” he stated.

Speaking at a stakeholders’ workshop on oil and gas, in Accra, Mr Ahwireng explained that the country had a broad market to consume the gas from the oil and gas fields.

He indicated that about 200,000 barrels of oil are set to be produced by 2018 following the commencement of production at the Jubilee and Tweneboa Enyenra and Ntomme (TEN) fields.

Mr Ahwireng indicated that there were ongoing exploration activities in other fields such as the Tano Basin, Cape Three Points sub-basin as well as the Saltpond/Central Basin to increase oil production and rake in more revenue for the country.

According to him, it is imperative for local firms to take advantage of the local content regulation Legislative Instrument LI 2204 to invest in the oil and gas production.

He explained that the law offered local oil and gas companies a considerable per cent of the contracts which were opened to all local firms to compete for services including freight forwarding and catering.

The gas is expected to be mainly channelled to the energy sector to bridge the deficit in gas supply for power generation.

A deputy Minister of Finance, Ms Mona Quartey called on the financial service providers to support domestic firms to invest in the oil and gas sector.

She urged them to design innovative and well-structured financial services to meet the needs of local companies, stressing that “for the oil and gas industry to deliver as a strong contributor to economic growth there was the need for the financial sector to play a significant role in supporting local firms”.

“This has been the trend for many oil and gas countries around the world. This should give room to financial institutions to be more innovative, diversify their products, integrate markets and manage risk more efficiently,” she said.

The Deputy Minister of Petroleum, Mr Ben Dagadu assured of government’s commitment to supporting indigenous companies to be more competitive in the oil and gas industry.

That, he said, had been shown by the passage of the Petroleum Commission Act 821 and Petroleum Local Content and Local Participation Regulations LI 2204 to enhance the participation of local firms in the upstream and downstream petroleum industry.

“To ensure active participation of local companies, the LI 2240 has, for example, stipulated that a contractor or sub-contractor licensed to carry out operational activity should make sure that its contract has a local content component,” he said.