The acting Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission, Mr. Egbert Faibille, has reiterated government’s commitment towards training Ghanaians in critical areas of the economy such as the oil and gas sectors, to enable them gain the requisite skills and technical knowledge for future explorations in the country.
According to him, government’s goal is to train Ghanaians to be one of the best in the “upstream oil and gas space in all over the world”
The legal practitioner, Egbert Faibille, is of the view that it will get to a point where Ghana will be able to export a high numbers of its citizens to go and work elsewhere in other parts of the world in the oil and gas space.
“The Government of President Akufo-Addo is committed to the localization of roles, we will welcome expatriates in our space because there are also Ghanaians working elsewhere in the world, but our goal is to ensure that we also train our people, so that they can be one of the best in the upstream oil and gas space all over the world.
“It will get to a point that Ghana too, will be able to export high numbers of its citizens to go and work elsewhere in the global upstream oil and gas space”.
Mr. Egbert Faibille was speaking at the official inauguration event at the Labadi Beach Hotel for 15 selected Ghanaian beneficiaries of a training program by MODEC production services JV ltd, in the oil and gas industry.
The acting CEO of the Petroleum Commission charged the beneficiaries of the training program to take advantage of the initiative he describes as a “collaborative effort between a listening MODEC and an activist Petroleum Commission” in order to gain the requisite skills in the operations and management of Floating Production Storage and Offloading [FPSO].
He admonished the beneficiaries to also be good ambassadors of Ghana in Brazil. He added that upon their return, the expertise will be needed by the country in the coming years.
“For the Ghanaians, who will have the privilege to go on this training program, I must say that this is not a tea party, it is an opportunity for you to increase your respective, individual and collective capacities on O&M with regards to FPSO operations, so that when you are back here, whatever knowledge that you acquire, whatever that was imparted, you will be able to also impart on others”
“We at the Commission, we will monitor this exercise and indeed, we have a database, where on your return we will feed your data into so that in the next foreseeable future depending on where you find yourself in the industry, if such issues come up we go into the database and we find out that 5 years or 10 years ago, you had this benefit of this training from MODEC, so we can pluck you from wherever you are to come and work on others, it will not be out of place.
“Training program result of collaborative effort of listening MODEC and activist NPA”
Narrating how the National Petroleum Commission was able to secure the training program for the 15 selected young Ghanaians, Mr. Egbert Faibille explained that the Petroleum local content and local participation regulation of 2013, LI 2204, enjoins the company to train Ghanaians in the oil and gas industry anytime expatriate services were going to be sourced for their operations.
Mr. Egbert Faibille said his “activist petroleum commission” worked in the interest of the country by pushing for the training program for Ghanaians after MODEC had written to the Petroleum Commission seeking to bring in expatriates for their O&Ms.
He also commended MODEC for staying true to their promise and working collectively to ensure that the training initiative materialized.
“Sometime last year, as it is the practice at the Commission, we received all kinds of expatriates to be allowed to come into Ghana and if you know the role that MODEC plays in Ghana, it is no small company, of the 3 FPSOs we have in this country, MODEC is the manager and operator of 2; FPSO Kwame Nkrumah and FPSO John Evans Attah Mills….”
With such assets, a company like MODEC will every now and then be at the Petroleum Commission seeking all kinds of approvals for engineering, and operations and management, and once you give them permits for O&Ms they have to bring in expatriates, so we received a request from them to bring in about 15 or so expatriates.
“We initially did not want to look fairly on this… but I said if this was the principle, it is okay and I understand, but we are going to approve this on a certain condition or background that, we have a law in Ghana which is the Petroleum local content and local participation regulation of 2013, LI 2204 enjoins companies to train Ghanaians and for that matter pass technology transfer to Ghanaians”
About MODEC
MODEC Production Services Ghana JV Ltd. in partnership with MODEC do Brazil have selected some 16 young Ghanaians to be trained for six months in Brazil on FPSO operations.
MODEC has been providing competitive floating solutions for the offshore oil and gas industry, and is recognized as a leading specialist for FPSO vessels, Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) vessels, Floating LNGs (FLNGs), Tension Leg Platforms (TLPs), and Production Semi-submersibles.
The company operates the Kwame Nkrumah and John Evans Atto Mills FPSOs in the country.
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By: Jude Mensa Duncan | Citinewsroom.com | Ghana | Duncanmensa@gmail.com