Takoradi, Jan. 20, GNA - Tullow Ghana Limited (TGL), major operators at the Jubilee Field, has begun a three-day workshop on the oil and gas industry for 60 stakeholders in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis.

Participants include representatives of the media, chiefs, Members of Parliament, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief executives, Environmentalists, NGOs, religious leaders and the Muslim Community. Opening the workshop,Mr David Yaro, Chief Director of the Western Regional Coordinating Council, said it was important to consider how to manage expectations of the teeming youth who have formed the opinion that the discovery and extraction of oil was "a weapon for the revolutionary removal of poverty." He said politicians, chiefs, NGOs and employers among others were duty bound to encourage and educate the people to train in skills that might be required for employment in the mainline oil and gas industry and its related services.

Mr Yaro said the oil and gas industry could unleash some negative effects on the communities where the resource is produced. These adverse effects include denial of means of livelihood, environmental degradation, spillage of poisonous chemicals into water bodies as well as the denial of people in the catchments area from accessing employment opportunities. Dr Tony Aubynn, Director of Corporate Affairs of Tullow, said the oil and gas industry required that Ghanaians acquired in-depth knowledge about the industry to be better placed to discuss it thoroughly with others.