GNPC has called for increased participation of state in oil and gas operations

He said oil and gas could not transform the country’s fortune by itself and that any transformation could not happen overnight.

“The oil and gas industry requires special skills and capacity to manage and operate. This requires a strong national oil company to spearhead the national agenda of increased participation and to become local content enabler,” he said in a speech read on his behalf by the Director of Human Resource of the GNPC, Naa Bortei Doku, at an academic forum in Accra.

He spoke on the topic “The Role of Oil and Gas in Economic Development” at the programme organised by the Oxford Business Group (OBG).

He said the role played by oil and gas in an economy was largely defined by how the host country and its people positioned themselves in harnessing the resource.

“If laws and regulations are in place but there is the lack of capacity on the part of local companies to actively engage in the value chain, with institutional capacity to support them, then a country stands a little chance to reap from the benefits that the industry brings,” he said.

OBG delivers lectures to students around the world and also produces annual investment and economic reports in over 35 emerging markets. Every business intelligence report by OBG is based on in-country research by experienced analysts who conduct hundreds of interviews within each country as part of their research.

The Regional Editor of OBG, Africa, Mr Robert Tashima, delivered a lecture on “Making Sense of Africa Rising.”

He said it was not solely the responsibility of Africa’s economies to adapt to the new realities of the Africa rising narrative.

“If Africa is to benefit from the current wave of growth, then investors will also need to ensure that their capital is being deployed appropriately, in the right places and in the right ways,” he said

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