The award recognises the importance of the 2018 acquisition of the Harlequin Group by a group of local entrepreneurs. The acquisition made the Harlequin Group, an already prominent player in the upstream service sector, eligible for certification by the country’s Petroleum Commission (PC) as a fully indigenous Ghanaian company in 2019.
In a recent interview, Mr Kofi Oduro Mensah, the company’s Co-CEO for Joint Venture and Strategic Alliances, noted the general drive towards indigenisation within the Ghanaian oil and gas sector. He commended the Petroleum Commission for creating an environment in which indigenous businesses can gain a stronger foothold in the industry and encouraged businesses to continuously develop local expertise.
Mr Mensah recalled the introduction of Ghana’s local content law in 2013, in which services such as catering and general manpower supply chain were reserved for fully indigenous companies, and said this trend is now evolving with local companies beginning to offer technical services to international oil companies and international service companies alike.
Mr Mensah also hopes to see the minimum local participation requirements for Joint Ventures increased to 20% in the amendment to the Local Content Regulation, slated to be introduced this year. He said: “With a higher equity stake, indigenous companies could ensure that these JVs are adding value to the country, as opposed to only existing as JVs on paper”.
Mr Frederick Hesse-Tetteh, Co-CEO for Projects, Commercial and Corporate Strategy, shared his excitement for the future of Ghana’s upstream oil and gas industry and noted the various upcoming projects within the sector. “We are excited about the future. With the Springfield and Aker Energy findings, there seem to be a lot of upcoming activities. In the next two or three years, we expect to see a huge boom in full field development and oil production, with additional assets moored offshore including FPSOs and rigs which shall provide opportunities for local business,” he said.
On Harlequin’s value proposition and upstream services offering, Mr Hesse-Tetteh said: “Our major services and flagship projects are the turnkey fabrication of subsea equipment, including suction piles, manifolds, steel bend restrictors, holdback anchors, and mud mats”. Mr Hesse-Tetteh is optimistic about the future of Harlequin and said in the next decade the company plans to develop its 50-acre facility into an oil services hub, providing a host of engineering services to the upstream oil and gas value chain.
“We hope to make a positive impact on the industry by providing outstanding, quality services and by continuously evolving our service offering to meet client demands. In a decade, we want to have proven that local African industry players have what it takes to get the job done too”, the Co-CEO said.
The African Local Content Forum is returning to AOW 2020. For more on local content, look out for the launch of the new Africa Oil Week eBook, “Perspectives on local content development in Sub-Saharan Africa from across the oil and gas value chain”, this week.
