The Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission, Mr. Egbert Faibille Jnr., has asked Maersk Drilling, a drilling company with presence in Ghana, to deepen their contribution to Ghana’s quest at local content and local participation. This according to Mr. Faibille Jnr., would be an indelible footprint of the company in the country’s upstream petroleum efforts.
Mr. Faibille made this call when the Ghanaian delegation at the just ended Africa Oil Week in Dubai, UAE paid a working visit to the company. He said the Commission’s doors are always open to discussions towards the training of many more Ghanaians as part of efforts to localise most expatriate roles in Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry. This he says is in furtherance of President Akufo-Addo’s Accelerated Oil and Gas Capacity Building Programme (AOGC) vision.
“For the current Energy Minister, Hon. Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh and other leaders in the industry, local content and local participation is an article of faith and therefore as a company we want you to intentionally pass on skills and technology to the indigenous Ghanaian companies as Ghana strives to build capacity and know how in the upstream petroleum space,” he said.
Taking the delegation through a virtual reality (VR) tour of their offshore facility, above and beneath the sea, going as deep as over 3000ft, Head of Drilling Solutions at the company, Mr. Ben Pomford revealed that they intend to bring some of the VR sets to Ghana for the country to have first-hand experience of underwater physics.
On his part, leader of the Ghanaian delegation at the 2021 Africa Oil Week, a Deputy Minister for Energy, Hon. Andrew Egyapa Mercer said the Ministry is ready to receive updates on the status and progress of the company’s operations in Ghana. This he added is key to a sustained relationship between government actors in the upstream space and the company.
Other discussions centered on Maersk Drilling’s partnerships in Ghana and opportunities available in the upstream sector to guarantee the company’s longevity in the country.
Source: Petroleum Commission