He said the tools outlined in the Petroleum Revenue Management and the Petroleum Commission laws, clearly spelt out conditions upon which the oil proceeds would serve as a blessing to Ghana, including the involvement of local content policy and participation.

Mr Pianim said this Thursday at the third Graphic Business Forum organised by the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) in Accra.

He was making a presentation on the theme “Leveraging ICT and Oil & Gas Resources to Accelerate Ghana’s Economic Development,” during the second session of the forum, the focus of which was on oil and gas.  The forum which attracted high-profile participants including seasoned economists, bankers, politicians and captains of industry, was aimed at exposing the business community to the various opportunities in the oil and gas sector.

Mr Pianim who was the main speaker on the topic, recalled that at the inauguration of the Petroleum Commission (PC) in November 2011, the Minister of Energy underscored the strategic importance attached to local content, adding that the law mandated the PC to promote local content and local participation in petroleum activities as prescribed in the Petroleum Exploration and Production Law.

He defined Local Content as contained in Act 821 as the use of Ghanaian human and material resources, services and businesses for the systemic development of national capacity and capability for the enhancement of the Ghanaian economy.

The definition, he observed, mandates the PC to look beyond the petroleum industry and discern opportunities for linkages for transformational development.

Mr Pianim, who is also the Board Chairman of the United Bank for Africa (Ghana), listed environmental safety and health standards, using up-to-date technology to minimise costs and improve recovery and encouraging sustainable development through exploration, as some of the ingredients of international practice.

He explained that the Petroleum Revenue Management law,  mandates the prudent use of oil proceeds and the setting up of the Petroleum Holding Fund into which were to be paid revenues from direct and indirect participation by the Government of Ghana.

He expressed the belief that upgrading the capacity of local banks and financial institutions to fund the oil industry and co-manage the petroleum funds, was critical for the local content policy the government was pursuing.

Mr Pianim stressed the need for editors of media houses to be certified and for journalists to specialise in specific areas, rather than the current situation where reporters held themselves as masters in every field.

The Chairman for the session, Dr Robert Adjaye, who is also the Rector of Petroleum Skills Development Institute, an oil and gas training institution, urged the government to use the oil proceeds to develop the oil and gas infrastructure in Ghana.

http://www.graphic.com.gh/news/page.php?news=18565

A draft local content bill — submitted and subsequently approved by cabinet and currently awaiting parliamentary scrutiny and passage into law, envisages up to 90 percent local content and participation in the oil and gas sector within the next decade.

Experts, including Trinidadian consultants engaged to help develop a local content policy, have noted that government’s expectations were overly ambitious — pointing out that the global best-case of local content in the hydrocarbons industry is about 75 percent.

Government officials in the oil sector are however adamant that such a high local content expectation will encourage speedy action towards Ghanaian control of the nascent oil sector in the shortest possible time.

A recent contract with Chinese state-owned Sinopec for the development of Ghana’s gas infrastructure — which had the Chinese contributing a minimum of 60 percent of the labour force, with only up to 40 percent coming from Ghana — has sparked debate about government’s commitment to promoting high local content and participation in the industry.

A growing consensus among experts point to a need to match local capacity to the local content policy, thus; highlighting the need to invest in education and development of the human capital required by the sector if Ghanaians are to control the sector anytime soon.

Tagoe said discovery of off-shore oil and gas in commercial quantities in 2007 gave the nation a wake-up call.

“Various private training institutions sprang up from 2008 and beyond. Each of these training institutions advertised various training programmes for specific trades or vocations required in the industry.

The large army of unemployed youth in the country was enticed by these advertisements and accordingly enrolled. Other professionals such as accountants, lawyers and engineers enrolled for specialisation programmes in the oil and gas industry,” Tagoe disclosed.

He explained that as a result of the void created in the formal educational sector for training the human resources for the oil and gas industry since the 1970s, the private educational institutions have seized the initiative from the public educational institutions and by extension the Ministry of Education.

Policies governing standards and accreditation for institutions in the educational sector for the oil and gas industry have thus lagged behind the national requirements.

“The situation is the same when it comes to policy-direction for the development of the requisite human resources for the oil and gas industry,” Tagoe said.

He noted that an overview of the various categories of functional groups required to operate and manage the oil industry — including field-workers, operators, trades, technicians, technologists and geo-science professionals, as well as, engineers, marine and nautical services, and business and operations support — indicated there is a big deficiency in the human capital requirement of the sector.

“The deficit of professional, vocational, technical and business entrepreneurs, will take about two to five years to train, to enable them fill much of the gap.

“The best way to facilitate addressing this shortfall is through Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) programmes,” Tagoe observed.

He pointed out that it is necessary the Ministry of Education to take immediate steps to give policy-direction to such a programme.

“This can be facilitated through the inclusion of the relevant subjects at the various levels of the educational ladder in the public institutions, starting from the Senior high schools. Specialisation or specific knowledge-based skills acquisition can be offered at the tertiary level,” Tagoe said.

He proposed that the bulk of technical and vocational skills acquisition courses be offered at the polytechnics, whilst the engineering courses and other specialist fields are studied at the Universities.

At the same time, the private educational institutions should be accredited by the National Accreditation Board to offer courses in which they have the capacity and requisite resources including lecturers.

Tagoe noted that in addition to training programmes to develop the human capacity directly required in the oil exploration and production industry, there will also be need to build the capacity of the Security Services to enable them manage the threats likely to confront the Nation as a result of the development and growth of the Oil and Gas industry, in the most efficient and effective manner.

Perceived threats to national security arising out of the oil industry, Tagoe noted, include border disputes, acts of terrorism, hostage taking, hijacking, kidnapping, abduction, illegal bunkering, stealing of oil, piracy, conflict of interest within the safety zones, environmental degradation, natural disasters, and security of land installations among a host of others.

“Each of these threats require specialist training to contain or eliminate whenever they occur. It thus behooves Government to allocate enough funds to the various Security Services to build the capacity to effectively and efficiently manage these threats before the crime occurs.

“The cost for maintaining sound peace and tranquility within which the desired National Socio-economic Development can thrive is priceless,” Tagoe said.

http://business.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201201/80416.php

He noted, however, that the discovery of oil and gas in Ghana could either be a blessing or a curse depending on how it is managed.

Speaking at a seminar in Accra on “Empowering the youth for the Oil and Gas Industry” Daasebre Oti Boateng, who is also the President of the Eastern Region House of Chiefs, noted that with the recent oil Find in Ghana, the general context of the economy was one of enormous thirst for development and high expectation for employment, especially among the youth.
He said Ghana was in the process of making policy choices which would have the potential of shaping economic growth and the development of the country for years to come.
Daasebre Oti Boateng then asked the fundamental question of how Ghana, which has been traditionally a major exporter of commodities such as cocoa, gold, diamond, timber and others, could now optimally use the oil and gas resources to ensure sustainable development of the country as a whole.

Answering the question, he said first it was necessary to ensure that the oil and gas resources were efficiently and transparently managed in order to ensure equitable distribution and effective utilization of the accrued revenues.

Secondly, the Omanhene was of the view that the oil and gas industry must be properly integrated with the rest of the economy by the creation of vital linkages with the other sectors to ensure optimal national development.

Daasebre reiterated that the oil and gas industry required highly trained and skilled human resources at various levels to operate efficiently and effectively.

Source: Daily Graphic

The scheme, which forms a key part of Tullow’s overall approach to education and capacity building, will support postgraduate degrees, technical training and vocational studies.

The scholarships aim to support local people to participate in the oil and gas industry, and in other sectors that promote economic diversification.

The scheme will address both existing industry skill gaps and national capacity development requirements and is aligned with Tullow’s aim of supporting long-term socio-economic growth in countries where it operates.

A pilot phase had already begun in September 2011 with 24 Ghanaians from the public sector pursuing Masters Level studies with leading universities in the United Kingdom.

Launching the scheme, Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, Minister of Energy, said the scholarship scheme would give practical meaning to the country’s quest for indigenization of the work force in the oil and gas industry.

“The initiative is a welcomed bold step very much appreciated by government. There is no better way to develop Ghanaians to take over the commanding heights of the oil and gas sector than this approach which in the not too distant future will see our own people giving true meaning to local content in the industry,” he said.

The full Tullow Group Scholarship Scheme will have up to 110 scholarship awards this year allocated across the following countries Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Gabon, Mauritania, Cote d’Ivoire, French Guiana and Bangladesh.

This year, fifty scholarship awards from the Tullow Group Scholarship Scheme are available to Ghanaians, who meet the set criteria through a competitive process.

Ten of the available scholarships would be set aside for scholars from the six coastal districts of the Western Region bordering the Jubilee Field.

“This is a huge investment in capacity building by any estimation,” Dr Oteng-Adjei said and urged beneficiaries of the scheme to return home after their training so as to create the opportunity for others to also benefit.

The scheme will be run through a partnership between Tullow and the British Council – an internationally recognised service provider in the area of scholarship management and partnership brokerage in higher education around the world.

Mr Aidan Heavey, CEO of Tullow Oil Plc, said: “This whole scheme is about developing potential – the potential that Tullow sees around it in Africa every day.  Developing local talent for the oil industry makes good business sense for us, and it makes sense for oil producing countries to develop talent beyond oil.

This is a great opportunity for anyone who has thought about this and wants to make a real contribution to the future of their country.”

GNA

Dubbed, ‘Invest in Africa’, the initiative aims to encourage long-term investment across the continent to help build and develop local capacity, boost domestic job markets, develop skills and stimulate economic growth.

The programme’s call to action will be supported through a partnership with English Premier League Football Club Sunderland AFC to raise awareness about business opportunities in Africa to facilitate inward investment and sustainable development through investor forums, organised business delegation visits and networking events

Mr Aidan Heavey, Tullow Chief Executive, said despite the enormous economic progress made by countries on the continent, many investors were still scared about exploiting existing opportunities.

“Tullow is investing in Africa for the long term and we want more businesses to do the same. Africa has been good to us, and we have been successful, but we want that success to bring growth for local people and economies too,” he said.

Mr Heavey said the partnership with Sunderland would allow the message about the investment opportunities in Africa to reach global audience and called on other companies who share in the vision of selling Africa to the world to join the crusade.

“One of our key aims is to look at how international business can work in partnership with local businesses in order to develop local business capacity, “he said.

Mr. Niall Quinn, Director of International Development Sunderland AFC, expressed the club’s excitement about the opportunity to use the global appeal of the Premier League as a tool for change through the innovative partnership with Invest in Africa.

“Africa’s passion for football is both heart-warming and inspirational and as a football club with community people and international aspirations firmly at its core, there is a natural synergy between us and this wonderful continent. We look forward to growing and developing the partnership in the coming months,” he said

As part of the initiative, a year-round schedule of Invest in Africa partner events will be organised to provide a platform for international business audience the opportunity to interact and discuss new investment opportunities.

Mr Ike Duker, Executive Chairman of Tullow Ghana, said although the company was at the fore-front of the new business programme, all corporate institutions should come on board to make it a success.

Further details of the initiative including the additional partners which join the campaign will be announced at the end of the Premier League season.

GNA

The activities will take place at nine prospects, eight of which are located at the Deepwater Tano block and the other situated at the West Cape Three Points block, according to the company’s 2012 exploration and appraisal activity currently planned.

The prospects are Owo-1RA, Ntomme-2A deepening, Owo-1RA DST, Enyenra-4A and DST, Enyenra-3A DST, Wawa-1, Turonian Deep-1, Sapele-1 and Teak-4.

With the exception of the Owo-1RA, Ntomme-2A deepening prospects in which work is in progress, the plan shows work will start on two prospects (Owo-1RA DST, Enyenra-4A and DST) during the first quarter.

Activity for Enyenra-3A DST will begin within the second half, while work in Wawa-1 and Turonian Deep-1 will begin in the second quarter of 2012.

Sapele-1 and Teak-4 will see work in the fourth quarter and second half of the year.

“Exploration and Appraisal activity in Deep Water Tano will be completed during 2012 with the drilling of up to three exploration wells on the block, said Tullow who is the lead operator in all of the prospects exceptTeak-4.

The company says the forward plan for the Mahogany East Area remains under discussion with the government of Ghana.

http://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2012/01/23/tullow-to-undertake-nine-exploration-appraisal-activities-in-ghana-during-2012/

“He got me to rewrite one of my scripts three times and he cancelled all of them,” Adam said. “But I kept working on them and I appreciated his help.” The results of the process are reflected in Adam’s recent reporting from Cameroon.

This workshop comes on the heels of a field trip the reporters took to Cameroon in December. Cameroon is shifting greater attention to minerals such as nickel, cobalt, iron and bauxite, because of declining oil reserves. The trip was an opportunity for the reporters to compare experiences and to sharpen their perspectives on the issues affecting Ghana. Kwami Ahiabenu, the journalists’ mentor on the study tour, is based in Accra at Penplusbytes, RWI’s local media training partner.

During the Cameroon trip, the Ghanaians met with journalists, civil society activists, company executives and government officials in Doula the commercial capital, in the coastal district of Kribi, and in Yaoundé the political capital.

They also toured the Logbaba gas plant owned by Rodeo Development Ltd, a subsidiary ofVictoria Oil and Gas, in which the Cameroonian government has a five per cent stake through its national oil company. The Logaba visit was a chance to learn about the trade-offs between natural gas production and the use of heavy fuel to generate electricity. While natural gas is the cheaper, more environmentally friendly choice, the plant is located in a densely populated area, which poses potentially serious threats to people and property in case of a plant accident. Jonathan Scott-Barrett, the managing director of Rodeo Development, told the reporters that the company had begun to relocate the people living near the plant, but he said government bureaucracy had slowed down the process.

Such visits are not always easy. Trainee Pascal Kudiabor of Ghana Business News said that one major challenge to covering Ghana’s oil sector is the limited opportunity to observe offshore exploration on the Jubilee rig. Regulations require every visitor to the rig to undergo safety training and certification. The Regional Maritime University in Ghana provides such training, but at a cost.

RWI’s next media training is scheduled for 30 January to 8 February in Kampala, Uganda, and is organized by the African Centre for Media Excellence.

The British firm’s 2011 capital expenditure amounted to $1.4 billion excluding acquisitions.

“Based on current estimates and work programmes, total capital expenditure for 2012 is forecast to be $2.0 billion,” said Tullow January 18, 2012.

It added “Approximately 45% of this investment will be allocated to exploration and appraisal.”

The rest of the spending will be for selected development and production activities, according to the company trading on both the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

Tullow states that the cost of Jubilee Phase 1 recompletions, including J-07 will be approximately $400 million gross.

The company’s net debt as at the end of December 31, 2011 was approximately $2.8 billion and the unutilised debt capacity was approximately $825 million while its reserve based lending facility was increased by $0.95 billion during the year with the Group now having total debt facilities of $4.15 billion.

http://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2012/01/23/tullow-oil-says-45-of-2b-planned-investment-for-exploration-appraisal/

Tullow, on behalf of the Jubilee Partners also made up of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Kosmos Energy, Sabre Oil and Anadarko acquired ownership of the FPSO from MODEC on December 29, 2011.

But the Japanese firm will still be providing services for the vessel – this time under a new contract, according to Jubilee operator Tullow.

“MODEC will continue to provide operations and maintenance services under a new contract,” said Tullow in a statement January 18, 2012.

However it did not give the value of the sale but according to a Reuters news report January 6, 2012, a source close to the deal put the value at $750 million.

Tullow explains that the acquisition was made following the excellent performance of the vessel in 2011 and “reflects the Partners’ belief that ownership of the vessel will maximise commercial value and operational flexibility.”

The World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) was providing $225 million political risk insurance for the vessel per an agreement it had with MODEC. But in 2011 MODEC cancelled the insurnce, an official of MIGA told ghanabusinessnews.com in an email January 6, 2012.

http://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2012/01/19/modec-still-to-manage-fpso-despite-sale-to-ghana-jubilee-partners/

It had been estimated that the field would produce on the average, 120 thousand barrels of oil a day, a few months after the commencement of production.

That target is however yet to be achieved more than a year since production began and the operator of the Jubilee Field, Tullow Oil now says it will be impossible to meet the target this year.

At a news conference in London earlier Wednesday, officials of the company indicated production for the year would peak around 90 thousand barrels a day due to some technical difficulties that have been encountered with some of the production wells.

They explain though the problems are being rectified, they have had to take a cautious approach.

The shortfall in production will ideally impact government revenue. The 2012 budget however appears to have made some form of provision for the shortfall and is projecting just about the same production level as announced by Tullow Oil.

The implications are nonetheless significant.

http://business.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201201/80051.php