Tullow Ghana has collaborated with the Ghana Upstream Petroleum Business Academy(GUPBA) of the Petroleum Commission of Ghana to deliver a series of training programmes aimed at equipping current and future suppliers in the oil and gas industry, with requisite knowledge in supplier due diligence.

This is the second in a series of trainings in Supplier Due Diligence, designed by the Petroleum Business Academy and the Local Content division of Tullow Ghana, to help suppliers identify industry standards in conducting ethical business.

Opening the session, Director for Local Content of the Petroleum Commission, Mr. Kweku Boateng thanked Tullow Ghana for the collaboration and urged the participants to take full advantage of the session to ask all relevant questions that will make them competitive and deserving of industry contract awards.

Associate General Counsel and Director of Legal for Tullow Ghana, Mrs. Hannah Agbozo, on her part, underscored the importance of supplier development and alignment with the national local content agenda as 2 key initiatives under the Local Capacity Development Pillar of TGL’s 2021 local content strategy.

Mrs. Agbozo said there has been a continuous increase in the value of contracts awarded to both indigenous and joint venture companies between 2010 -2020, indicating that of a total of $16.18 billion spent over the period, $10.67Bn worth of contracts has been awarded with local participation.

Tullow Ghana remains committed to conducting its business ethically and legally, and in accordance with its Code of Ethical Conduct. This Supplier Due Diligence session, forms part of its Ethics & Compliance programme, aimed at assessing whether suppliers have adequate compliance processes in place to ensure that they would not cause TGL to breach its own code of conduct or any regulations; and assessing suppliers’ capacity to comply with TGL’s contractual requirements pertinent to business ethics and compliance; and collaborating with prospective suppliers with shortcoming in their compliance programmes to implement controls to international standards with regards to business ethics and compliance.

Standard processes and procedures executed prior to contract award aim at collecting supplier information on anti-bribery and corruption controls, ownership and/or shareholder structure, compliance with international sanctions and trade restrictions and human rights and labour conditions within their supply chain.

It is envisaged that this training will provide the over 160 participants, an overview of the Supplier Due Diligence Process, including the electronic platform interface used by suppliers to submit their responses, explain the purpose and format of the due diligence issued to suppliers, share some of the common problematic due diligence responses received by Tullow Ghana, share examples of good practice for submitting due diligence response, and provide an overview of the contractual audit clause related to business ethics and compliance.