The UK Ghana Chamber of Commerce (UKGCC) in collaboration with the Department of International Trade and Scottish Development is leading a trade delegation from Ghana’s oil and gas industry to the 2017 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Offshore Europe, to develop models and strategies for effective technical training for the country’s oil and gas sector.

The conference is a four-day event to be held in Aberdeen in Scotland from Tuesday, September 5, to Friday, September 8, 2017.

The Trade Services Advisor of the UKGCC, Derrick Cobbinah, said: "We believe the time is right for Ghana to develop and establish technical training in oil and gas among other related industries”.

“Quality human capital represents a key success indicator in our industry yet the cost of this can be staggering. In this era of low crude prices, oil and gas companies like Tullow Oil are always seeking ways to reduce cost by optimizing output using the most cost effective methods”, he added.

He has advised that partnering and learning from world class technical education colleges and universities represent the best model for Ghana. 

Aberdeen, Scotland represents one of the best standards in oil and gas education in the world. Most of its 196,000 employees in the energy sector in Scotland were trained in Aberdeen.

The UKGCC, therefore, calls on key stakeholders to join and share ideas on improving Ghana’s oil and gas sector. It is also expected that the delegation will visit some top universities and colleges in Aberdeen to see what exists in the UK and Scotland, as well as what Ghana seeks to gain.