A three-day oil and gas conference opened in Takoradi yesterday, with a call on civil society, the media and traditional rulers across the country to take special interest in issues on the operations of the oil industry.
The conference, the first since Ghana officially started drilling oil, is aimed at creating a better understanding of the operations of the new oil and gas industry in the country.
It is being sponsored by Tullow Oil.
The Public Affairs Director at Tullow Ghana, Mr Tony Aubbyn, said as the country moved from oil exploration to production and export, it was important that participants in the conference, who serve as links with the public, had a clear understanding of the operations of the new industry.
That would ensure that all stakeholders felt a part of the industry and contributed to educate the public on its benefits to the socio-economic development of the country.
He said the way forward for a successful oil industry in the country was through proper communication, in which stakeholders were taken through the operations of the major operators to enable them to ask the necessary questions that truly reflected the thoughts of the people in their communities.
The public affairs director said Tullow was committed to operating with the support of the people, for which reason it would continue to dialogue with the people and share information to ensure that the operations of the industry were properly understood.
Mr Aubbyn expressed the hope that at the end of the conference, participants would be equipped to understand the industry and help relay it to members of the larger community.
For his part, the Member of Parliament for Takoradi, Mr Kobby Okyere-Darko Mensah, said it was important that the public who were the real owners of the resource understood the operations of the industry.
He said there was much expectation and so if the people were made to understand the real issues, it would help manage some of that expectation.
A resource person, Mr Ian Philip, an industry expert from the Robert Gorden University, took participants through technical introduction on the upstream and downstream aspects of the oil industry.
He also took them through the risks and benefits associated with the industry.
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