About US$15 to US$420 billion is expected to be invested in Ghana's oil and gas operations for the next five years, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Nana Boakye Asafu-Adjaye, has disclosed.
Nana Asafu-Adjaye, who made the disclosure at the inauguration of the GNPC Oil & Gas Learning Foundation in Accra, yesterday, described the establishment of the Foundation as another important milestone in meeting the GNPC's mandate to ensure that Ghana derived the greatest possible benefits from the development of its petroleum resources.
He said the GNPC had two other mandates, namely to obtain the effective transfer to Ghana of the appropriate technology relating to petroleum operations and to ensure the training of citizens of Ghana and the development of national capabilities in all aspects of petroleum operations.
The GNPC Chief Executive said the GNPC Oil and Gas Learning Foundation was, therefore, an effort to give more meaning to the third mandate of the GNPC and that the GNPC was approaching the twin core mandates in a planned and strategic way under its 2012-2020 Accelerated Growth Strategy.
He said the Strategy was made up of four pillars, namely building the capacity and expanding activities to enable the GNPC to do more for Ghana; Replacing and growing reserves to ensure that the Oil & Gas sector could contribute to deliver value to Ghana; Efficient capitalisation and optimum participation to position GNPC property in the industry; and Catalysing local content development.
In an address, the Minister for Energy and Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, pledged government's commitment and support to the development of the Oil & Gas industry.
Mr Buah expressed confidence in the ability of members of the Governing Council of the Foundation to deliver on their mandate.
The Chairman of the Foundation Council, Mr Kwame Peprah, gave the assurance that the Foundation would work hard to ensure the training of citizens to help the development of national capabilities in all aspects of petroleum operations so as to fulfil the GNPC's mandate and the country's local content aspirations.
"We remain committed to giving opportunities to Ghanaian nationals through a strong recruitment and training programme aimed at boosting local capacity in the industry. The Foundation will partner with government to create strategic learning opportunities that would enable Ghanaians increase their involvement in and control of our national resources for their benefit," he stated.
The GNPC Oil & Gas Learning Foundation is a company limited by guarantee, initially with the GNPC as its sole subscriber who, in 2012, made an initial allocation of US$3million to the Foundation.
The Foundation is an independent institution set up by the GNPC under section 2 (2) of PNDC Law 64 to implement one of its statutory objects in the area of higher education in Oil & Gas-related studies.
The Foundation, which was inaugurated on the theme: Deepening Expertise and Local Participation in the Oil and Gas Sector, is, therefore, expected to support institutions by collaborating to build national capacity in Oil & Gas sciences, policy, management and operation in order to achieve local content aspirations and deepen local participation in Ghana's Oil & Gas industry. In other words, the Foundation aims to give focus to a large scale rapid development of the skills and techniques required to meet the individual and institutional capacity needs of Ghana's Oil & Gas industry.
The objects of the Foundation are to receive funds from GNPC and other sources; invest the funds received so as to generate a sustainable income; make donations to institutions, projects and individuals that support the development of national capacity in the Oil & Gas industry; support the establishment and development of a GNPC Petroleum Training Institute; and do such other things necessary in the pursuit of the above.
The Foundation has Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, Minister for Education; Mrs. Alexandra Amoako-Mensah, Consultant in the management of Industrial Minerals; Mr Samuel Garba Boman I, current Administrator of the Ghana Education Trust Fund; and Nana Boakye Asafu-Adjaye, CEO of the GNPC as Council members.
Source: ISD (Benjamin Abeiku Tandoh & G.D. Zaney)
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