Petroleum Commission faces off with Siemens Oil & Gas

The Petroleum Commission has cited Siemens Oil and Gas Limited for breaches in relation to the company’s operations in Ghana.

The breaches include the refusal of Siemens Ghana Limited to operate with an indigenous Ghanaian Bank.

According to a letter signed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission, Egbert Faibille inviting the company for a meeting to resolve the issues and intercepted by Mynewsgh.com, the Petroleum Commission also accused the company of not having in place, a technology transfer plan while contracts are executed without due regard to local content requirements.

The commission also found that the names of some 7 expatriates working for Siemens Oil and Gas Limited could not be found in the Petroleum Commission’s work permit facilitation database.

The adverse findings against he company came to light following an inspection and monitoring exercise carried out by he Commission on 20th July 2018 on the company in the Western Region.

According to the commission, the infractions by the company violates section 51 of the Petroleum exploration and production Act, 2016, Act 919 and Regulation 44 of Petroleum ( Local Content and Local Participation) Regulations, 2013 (LI 2204).

An insider at the Petroleum Commission confirms that Siemens had been leveraging its relation with the immediate past Minster of Energy to blatantly circumvent its obligations under the local content without fear or apprehension. It thus appears Siemens skirted all the work permit requirements and brought in these foreigners to work in Ghana without authorization from immigration or the Petroleum Commission.

Incidentally, checks at the Petroleum Commission also revealed that over 60% of the foreign companies engaged in the oil and gas sectors have been flauting the local content laws in blatant disregard to the interest of the indigenous companies who are supposed to be benefitting from the oil find in the country.