File-photo: Workers of Tullow Ghana Tullow Oil has interacted with than 200 indigenous companies in the oil and gas sector and some seven banks in the country to deliberate on solving the challenges of financing projects in the industry.
According to Tullow, the quest to improve local content participation in the sector has always been undermined by access to credit for the local companies.
Director of External Affairs, Social Performance and Local Content at Tullow Oil Ghana, Cynthia Lumour explains to JoyBusiness that the conference is just the beginning of the company’s journey with the local firms.
"We at Tullow believe that the oil find should be a catalyst for growth to benefit the local people so as a key player in this space, we do more of these workshops to bring the suppliers, dealers and financial institutions together to network and find a solution to the challenge," she said.
Local content participation in the oil and gas industry remains a challenge despite the enactment of the local content law and other related regulations to improve the capacity of citizens.
Tullow Oil has been one of the oil exploration companies that engage local players along it is supply chain since the beginning of its exploration activities in the country.
She added "Certainly it’s part of our local content strategy and local companies are being encouraged to take advantage of it to bridge the access to credit gap in the sector"
Meanwhile, some of the companies lauded the initiative by Tullow Ghana also expressed concern about the fees on the credit facilities and the need for the banks to review the rates downwards.
The engagement will also help suppliers in the industry to secure funds from the banks easily through the right channels.
