Content Analysis of the Local Content Policy in Oil and Gas Sector: A Comparison Between Ghana and Nigeria

Abstract

The discovery of oil and gas in many parts of the world has become a curse to the nations than a blessing. There have been several efforts by many nations to ensure that, this trend is reversed to bring joy to the oil producing countries. The objective of the study was to analyse the local content policy of Ghana and to find out how it has been implemented since its inception. The research question was what is the extent of local inclusion in the production and marketing of the oil and gas in Ghana? and what is the achievement of oil and gas local content policy in Ghana The study would be significant in helping to know the extent to which Ghanaians participate in the oil and gas industry which would help in future research to know the number of people and the contribution of the locals in production and marketing the crude oil from Ghana. The research was carried out in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry in Ghana. Most of the data was collected form Journals, articles, books and paper on similar work on the subject. These included internet sources and other relevant sources. The research revealed that local recruitment in Ghana over the years have been good, and may be exceeded in the near future by the overall numbers.it also revealed that local content policy of Ghana has certain systems put in place to enable it implement the local content policy as it is done in Nigeria. The research concluded that there is limited data on the operations and achievement of the Local Content Policy. It was recommended that there should be a data collection agency to collect and analyse data relating to the petroleum activities in Ghana, so that these data can be compared with the objectives of the Local Content Policy to find out if there is progress being made or not in terms of the achievements of the Local Content Policy.