Local petroleum engineers advised to develop expertise

Local petroleum engineers have been challenged to develop their expertise in order to survive the scramble over jobs with their foreign counterparts in the country's emerging oil exploration.

Mr. Ernest Johnson, a US based engineer who made the call, said the country must therefore take a firm stand through internal agreements to secure employment for the local people, if Ghana could get the best out of the oil resource.

Mr. Johnson was speaking at an inaugural ceremony of the Regional Maritime Academy and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology students' chapters of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) in Accra on Saturday.

The students' chapters have been formed to promote information sharing among students and provide a platform to enhance their technical and professional competence in the petroleum sector.

Mr. Johnson therefore urged the students to be mindful of the competition that other foreign professionals might bring, stressing foreign investors might prefer working with their own people.

He urged the students to gather enough confidence to succeed in their career and opt for global high- level competencies and specialisation.

Crusader Ing. Robert Woode, Chairman for the Centre for Technology Driven Economic Development, who presented a paper on "Challenges and Opportunities in the Oil Industry" asked the students to tap potentials in the solar energy.

He said this was because, research had established that five and half hours of sunlight generated into solar energy had the potential to meet a year's energy needs of the whole world.

Ing. Woode also mentioned that wind power, biofuels, palm oil, vegetable oil , cocoa dry beans and sorghum, all contained elements that could generate power for the country instead of solely relying on crude oil.

Mr. Issaac Aduhene Opoku, President of the Regional Maritime Academy chapter called on government to consider the interest of the youth, especially those pursuing courses in the oil sector.