The role the Petroleum Commission in developing local content

The petroleum Commission of Ghana which a statutory institution was established by an Act of Parliament in 2011, Act 821 with the main of objective of regulating and managing the utilization of petroleum resources in the upstream petroleum sector and coordinating of policies in relation to them.

The role of the commission in developing local content is undertaking the following measures to help build local entrepreneurship among Ghanaians in the upstream industry. The petroleum commission performs the following functions in relation to local content development;

1. Development of a common qualification system to register and pre-qualify local service providers. This is done by following the procedures and regulations that qualifies an institution to become local service provider.
2. Setting of minimum standards requirement for local content in local content plans. Within every institution, there are benchmarks in the operation of their activities and requirements that qualifies a company to partake in the activities. Once these minimum requirements are met, the local service provider may be given the legal documents to start operation.
3. Rigorous and transparent monitoring and reporting system. The petroleum commission also plays the role of monitoring the activities of service providers in the upstream industry in Ghana. This done by making sure local service providers performs their activities in a transparent manner for payment of taxation to government.
4. The petroleum commission in its quest to promote local content also analyze and evaluate procurement procedures among others to develop local content in the country.

In conclusion, the Petroleum Commission in its quest to develop local content must be involved in building local capacity to take up new jobs in the upstream industry by citizens of Ghana. This will assist in amassing resources for the country to engage in more prospecting and exploration activities to discover new fields in the country.

 By:David Aduhene Tanoh  www.reportingoilandgas.com