LOCAL CONTENT HIGH ON THE AGENDA AT OFFSHORE WEST AFRICA CONFAB

“West Africa’s new deep water petroleum province represents an opportunity to develop world class oil and gas industries in Africa. This means developing the infrastructure in the industry and establishing an efficient industrial chain to deliver high level local content into the growing energy industries, ” says Mr. Theo Ahwireng, Geophysics Manager, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation. Speaking at the just ended 17th annual Offshore West Africa Conference and Exhibition in Accra under the theme “Deepwater Discoveries, Emerging Opportunities”, Mr. Ahwireng noted that the oil and gas industry provides ample testimonies to the need for broad regional approach to infrastructural creation. The Offshore West Africa 2013 conference provided a unique networking opportunity for participant to share technology and address issues with experts in their respective fields. The 2013 conference program included two parallel tracks packed with new technologies, case studies, original concepts and other exclusive local content. The conference once again addressed key technology and development issues for the West African offshore oil and gas market, through a comprehensive educational program and three‐day exhibition According to Mr. Ahwireng, West African oil and gas resources can only be made available to serve the energy needs of the people as they forge ahead to create the much needed infrastructure. There is a lot to be done to address infrastructural unavailability in the industry including lack of skilled labour, lack of capital and other local content issues. Securing the active involvement indigenes in the oil and gas activities within the contest of highly efficient labour chain has been the challenge of governments in West African region. Attempts to secure such involvement have been constrained by access to adequate levels of finance, the state of the country’s human resource capacity and the availability of the right technology. To him, “There is more room for us in the sub region to be working more closely to leverage our common synergies and to find suitable solutions to our common problem.” He said as governments continue to create the enabling environment for the realization of this potential, it is important that stakeholders deliberate on the emerging opportunities and its impact to the future of the West African economies, and recognizing the aspiration of the people of the sub region to develop the relevant capacities and participate effectively in the development and exploitation of their oil and gas resource. In Ghana, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation in undertaking its activities has pledged to ensure the effective transfer to Ghana of appropriate technology relating to petroleum operations. This strategy will enable the GNPC to develop the necessary capability to become an excellent operator that can independently manage an oil and gas operations in the long term. In the medium term, the GNPC is looking to partnering international oil and gas companies in order to explore the Ghanaian deep water offshore. “We are adopting the joint operating venture concept as a primary driver to attaining this status of operatorship by building operating capabilities through working with world class operators,” Mr. Ahwireng disclosed. He appealed to industry players to continue working closely with West African governments to not only develop local content and capacity policies, but more importantly to ensure that they are implemented for the mutual benefits of all. Meanwhile, Ghana’s Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Hon. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has noted that deep water exploration development and production all over the world present key challenges and opportunities for countries, international oil companies and all stakeholders in the oil and gas industry. According to him, “Ghana is strategically located in the so called new deep water golden triangle, which connects Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa to deep water exploration.” The three areas have accounted for large volumes of oil, gas and condensate discoveries over the last five years. The potential is enormous. Ghana as a key player in the new golden triangle leads with about 23 discoveries in the last five years alone. These discoveries present new opportunities and challenges particularly how to manage the expectation of key stakeholders. The Minister making a reference from an industrial research indicated that deep water spending will reach an average of around US$32 billion this year alone. He said the report estimated that for the last ten years deep water expenditure has risen from less than US$20 billion in 2005 to close to US$30 billion in 2008. Spending is still expected to pick up to US$35 billion per year by the end of 2014. “Nearly 90% of this deep water spending is destined for the deep water golden triangle, with Africa said to take the lion’s share of US$60 million followed by Brazil and Mexico with US$30 million each. The Jubilee partners in Ghana are expected to take a huge chunk of this investment,” he disclosed. He said Ghana has always supported partnerships that work to build Ghana’s nascent oil and gas industry to the ultimate benefit to the people of Ghana. Other technical topics discussed at Offshore West Africa 2013 included Well Construction and Drilling Operations, Field Development, Flowlines and Pipelines, Riser Technology, Floating Production Systems, Production Optimization, Geology and Geophysics, Subsea Technology, Safety and Environmental Concerns and Local Content.