The Petroleum Commission (PC) says the Petroleum Local Content and Local Participation Regulations, 2013 (Legislative Instrument 2204) will be reviewed next year to make it more pragmatic and practical.

Mr Kwadwo Asare Kyei, Manager of Local Content, PC, said proposals made towards the making of the new LI bothered on the Joint Venture Formation and some other interpretations of the law.

He said the LI, which sought to enhance in-country value retention through the participation of Ghanaians and Ghanaian businesses in the petroleum industry, had been beneficial to the country.

Mr Asare Kyei said this on Thursday during a panel discussion on Ghana’s Oil and Gas Industry in Accra at a strategic roundtable forum organised by The Oil and Gas Year Ghana 2018 in Partnership with Ghana Oil Club (GOC).

Speaking on the topic “Market Entry Strategies and Achieving Success”, Mr Asare Kyei said the Local Content Law had made possible for some Ghanaians working with international multinational companies operating in the country to rise to top management positions.

He noted that the PC would soon crack the whip on defaulting oil companies, adding that the Commission would ensure full compliance with the Local Content Law and said the Monitoring and Evaluation Team of the Commission was currently inspecting 50 oil and gas companies to find out whether there were any infractions or violations of the law.

He said defaulting companies would be invited to the Commission to find out why they were not complying with the law, and if their answers were not satisfactory, then the necessary sanctions would be applied to them and mentioned failure to engage Ghanaians, local insurance companies and local law firms as some of the infractions that attracted sanctions from the Commission.

Mr Asare Kyei said the PC would ensure that local content was maximised for the benefit of the people of Ghana; stating that the PC was building the capacity of Ghanaians in the oil and gas sector.

Mr Tesa Ayernor, Senior Commercial Advisor, Tullow Ghana, said one key factor, which helped them in their operations in Ghana was good stakeholder management and their current focus was on good investment in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), as part of efforts to help build the human resource capacity of the country.

Madam Rosalind Kainyah, Managing Director, Kina Advisory Services, said a lot of oil and gas companies knew what to do, but in doing it, things sometimes got complicated and urged them to do thorough due diligence before moving into any country to do business.

Mr Fafanyo Kofi Martin Tengey, General Manager, DeepOcean, said the PC was moving in the right direction and called for the development of the human resource base of companies operating in the oil and gas sector.

Mr Michael Ballmann, Country Director, The Oil and Gas Year, said Ghana needed to compete at the global market level to be able to attract investors into the country; adding that investors would only come if the right conditions were in place.

Madam Hellen Adzoa Kpeglar, Director, GOC, said the roundtable was held to give their members an opportunity to gain knowledge from-renowned industry experts and global players and as a non-profit making entity, the Club had the aim to facilitate lively and informed discussions on evolving and topical issues in the energy sector, as it concerned Ghana.