Special topics
Ghanaian exhibitors at the just-ended 2018 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas, have described the conference as one of the best platforms for them to showcase their potentials and roles in the country’s emerging oil and gas industry to the rest of the world.According to them, the patronage of their various stands within the Ghana pavilion also offered them the unique opportunity to explain the core of their business while taking advantage to strike deals that will inure to the benefit of their respective businesses.
Ghana, through the efforts of Consolidated Shipping Agencies (Conship), was able to open its own pavilion for the first time in the 50-year history of the conference. This offered the 15 Ghanaian companies which took full advantage of the event the unbridled opportunity to showcase their business as a collective to the rest of the world.
Participants
The Ministry of Energy, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) were the only three state institutions which fully leveraged the opportunity by explaining the nature of their business to the many anxious visitors to the Ghana pavilion because of the country’s potential as a new entrant to the industry.
The private companies were Tullow Ghana, Kosmos Energy, Springfield Ghana E&P, Advantage Group, i-Neema Ghana, Woodfield Energy Resources, Seaweld Engineering, Greenline Logistics, Ghana Oil and Gas Service Providers Association (GOGSPA), EcoAlpha/Seeker, Exceed Well Management Ghana and Conship, the brain behind the pavilion.
Comments
A top management executive of Conship, Mrs Linda Vasnani, expressed delight at the level of interest shown in the Ghana pavilion because of the large number of visitors who patronised the various stands of the Ghanaian companies.
“In the past, we came as individual companies so we never made any good impact but now that we came as a group and located at one spot, it was easier for people to come to us to make enquiries,” she stated.
According to her, “It has always been the dream and vision of the CEO of Consolidated Shipping Agencies, Dr M.C. Vasnani, for Ghana to have its own pavilion and as such in June 2017, we took a bold step to apply to OTC requesting for space.”
She paid glowing tribute to the companies that made it possible to have the pavilion, saying: “The success in securing the space was only the first step in realising this dream. All other activities in making this possible were because of the unflinching support of the US Commercial Service of the American Embassy, the Minister of Energy (another great visionary), his ministry and the American Chamber of Commerce.”
The Legal Advisor of Springfield Group, Nana Osei Kofi Addae, indicated that the participation of the company in the conference and exhibition had not been a waste but an investment that would inure to the benefit of the company in the short, medium and long term.
“We will be here again next year because we value the platform offered and cannot afford to miss it,” he pointed out.
The Executive Director of GOGSPA, Mr Nuertey Adzeman, also noted that the enquiries made by the visitors to the stand of the association were insightful and beneficial to the association and expressed the hope that these would translate into something more positive in the near future.
The Communications Consultant of Advantage Solutions, Ms Rashida Nasamu, said the leverage offered the company was unique and of great value and expressed the hope that it would help break new grounds in the country’s oil and gas industry.
Other representatives from Kosmos Energy, i-NEEMA, GRA, among others, also expressed the willingness of their respective institutions to be present next year and commended Conship for the opportunity.
