Tullow to replicate local industry capacity in Ghana …As it sponsors 14 graduates` overseas

Tullow oil Ghana limited (TGL) in collaboration with it's key partners in the development of the jubilee fields, Ghana national petroleum corporation (GNPC) the regulator of Ghana's upstream oil and gas industry, has placed the development of local capacity and the systematic building of a strong and indigenous human resource base for the emerging petro-chemical industry at the very top of its agenda.

Speaking to a cross section of journalist at the close of a two week induction programme organised for the beneficiary graduates in Accra, Mr. Kofi Esson, Government & External Relations Manager of Tullow oil Ghana, observed that the company is happy to replicate in Ghana what it has already achieved in Bangladesh, where Tullow maintains only three key expatriates, leaving the bulk of operations in the hands of an indigenous Bangladeshi workforce.

“At this stage of the development of the Ghana's oil and gas industry, it is important that we help to ensure that the regulator itself (GNPC) is sufficiently grounded in terms of human resource capacity,” Mr. Esson said.

'Tullow so passionately wants to place Ghanaians in charge of the management of Ghanaian assets-especially strategic ones like oil and gas and we believe that we would be drawing closer to this goal if this brilliant and youthful crop of Ghanaian graduate engineers return home to the industry with new and productive ideas and knowledge to drive our industry forward,' he stressed.

The induction, primarily organized to give the young engineers some preliminary insights into seismic survey, drilling and oil production, also touched on the fundamentals of Tullow plc's global work culture, ethics and value system and also to align the young engineers to the company's unique practices in exploration, development and production of petroleum and gas.

Meanwhile, twelve of the fourteen engineers, all young graduate employees of the Ghana national petroleum corporation (GNPC), left Accra last week for London and Cape Town, from where they will be assigned to specialist institutions in the United Kingdom and South Africa. Two engineers will be assigned to the company's Ghanaian exploration drilling activities, which are currently in progress; they will remain at the TGL's head office in Accra.

All graduates will pursue specialized technical on-the-job training and industrial courses in petroleum engineering, geology, environmental engineering and other oil industry-related study programmes over the course of the next two years. Tullow officials say they are certain that some of the beneficiaries would eventually merit more advanced studies after these initial courses.

Tullow oil plc is one of Europe's leading independent exploration and production companies operating a balanced worldwide portfolio, which stretches across Africa, Europe, south Asia and South America. The company's recent exploratory successes in the jubilee and adjoining fields have made Ghana one of Tullow's most important concessions.