The Energy Center KNUST has organized a colloquium dubbed “Celebrating with Caution, Ghana’s Oil and Gas Prospects”, to increase public awareness, particularly of the University Community, on key issues regarding Ghana’s budding off-shore oil and gas sector and how the nation can maximize the benefits from oil and gas as a finite resource. The 2-day colloquium was held on the 17th and 18th February 2011 at the Auditorium of the College of Engineering, KNUST. 

Delivering the Keynote address, Mr Kwame Pianim, a renowned Economist and Entrepreneur, quoted former President J. A. Kuffour and current President J. E. A Mills in noting that signals from the two leading political traditions in Ghana give good indication of the collective desire not to tread the paths of other countries who turned their oil and gas resources into a “curse” instead of “blessing”. Mr Pianim strongly advised against sidelining other sectors of the economy as some countries did when they found oil in commercial quantities. He expressed the hope that oil and gas will “serve as the leaven for Ghanaians to put in place institutions with institutional memory and sound decision-making processes, help reset our mental attitudes and policy environment to encourage policy continuity and reasonable stability towards unleashing sustainable and accelerated transformational development.”

The Honourable Minister of Energy Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, in a closing address, announced that the Government had initiated a US$ 38 million Capacity Development Programme with the World Bank which among others would provide modern, world-class laboratory facilities for the Petroleum and Petrochemical Engineering programme at the College of Engineering, KNUST.  He also called on the sponsors, particular the Jubilee Partners, to support a fund for energy research and organisation of future colloquia at KNUST.

The event was sponsored by Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Ghana Insurers Association (GIA), Schlumberger, Kosmos Energy Ghana, Tullow Oil Ltd, Amalgamated Bank Ltd and ECOBANK Ghana Ltd.  The Vice-Chancellor of KNUST, Prof William Otoo Ellis, chaired the Opening Session and the Provost of the College of Engineering, Prof Samuel Innocent Kofi Ampadu, gave the Welcome Address.

Other high-profile speakers at the colloquium included: Mr Samuel Eshun of Schlumberger; Mr George Sarpong of Kosmos Energy Ghana HC; Mr Alex Mould of the National Petroleum Authority; Dr Alfred Ofosu-Ahenkorah of the Energy Commission; Mr Sunil Mathrani of the World Bank; and Mr Ishmael Edjekumhene of KITE.  They discussed issues of Local Content and Capacity Development and Social Impacts and Governance in the oil and gas sector. The need to strategically develop local capacity for effective participation, and the need for Government to put in place measures to mitigate the impact of escalating cost of living in the areas close to the oil and gas fields, were highlighted. 

To download speeches and presentations, please click here