By Juliet Aguiar DUGBARTEY, Takoradi
The 3rd Western Regional Oil and Gas Excellence Awards Dinner has been held in Takoradi.
The awards, implemented by the Western Regional Co-ordinating Council in partnership with Top Brass Ghana, honoured deserving Oil and Gas industry operators with the hope of motivating them to strive for entrepreneurial excellence.
“With the theme ‘Ghana: Toward Oil-led Economic Development’, the awards objective was to acknowledge the Oil and Gas fraternity’s vital contribution to economic development of the region and country as a whole,” said Isaac Darkwa, Executive Director-Top Brass Ghana.
Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, Western Regional Minister, in an address read for him pointed out that discovering oil and gas in the Western Region has been a game-changer for the country’s economy.
“It has transformed the region into a major hub for extraction, driving economic growth and unlocking numerous developmental opportunities,” he said.
According to him, the revenue generated from oil and gas exports has significantly boosted Ghana’s economy.
GDP
“Ghana’s oil reserves are estimated to be between 1 and 2 billion barrels – funding critical sectors such as infrastructure, development, education, healthcare, social welfare programme and creating employment for the teeming youth,” he said.
He continued: “Ghana’s oil and gas industry has also attracted key global industry players on the back of sustained investor interest, largely due to the favourable investment climate and stable democracy”.
Therefore, Mr. Darko-Mensah said, the country has solid grounds to leverage, to continually attract foreign investors to invest here in Ghana by building refineries.
“There is now a need to invest in other renewable sources; we need to build our refinery capacities to transform our oil into petrochemicals that are needed everywhere in the world.
By having more local refineries we can meet our demands, ensure a stable supply of petroleum products for our industries and lessen our dependency on imported refined oil products – strengthening our energy security and self-sufficiency,” the regional minister said.
He added that while government is committed to diversifying the economy to reduce dependence on oil and gas exports, implementing policies to promote local content in the oil and gas sector and, most importantly, addressing climate change and its negative impacts on social development is the best.
“Therefore, I implore Ghanaian businesses and all gathered here to recognise the immense potential that lies within our reach, because Ghana’s oil-led economic development could be seen as a relatively complex and multifaceted issue requiring careful planning and management to ensure growth and development.”
The Takoradi Technical University Vice-Chancellor, who was Chairman for the programme, commended companies and individuals honoured for their hard work and commitment in helping the industry to grow.
