He said the training programme would start in January, 2019, and by December, 2019, the last cohort should have been completed.

He recounted that the Programme was launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in November 2017, in fulfilment of his Manifesto promise to create opportunities for Ghanaians in the upstream sector.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah made the announcement, on Wednesday, at a media briefing in Accra.

He said the aims of the project included developing the capacity of Ghanaians in Core technical areas, such as welding and metal fabrication, pipe fitting as well as Non-Destructive test technicians, drilling engineers and mechanical technicians so that they could take roles and job opportunities in the sector.

It also seeks to develop the capacities of Ghanaian technical and vocational institutions as well as universities to offer world class training and certifications for the oil and gas industry.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah said since the launch of the Project, the AOGC Secretariat had been setup under the Petroleum Commission to see to the realisation of these objectives.

It is also to ensure that they all at the same time acquired Basic Offshore Induction and Emergency training (BOSIET) to facilitate their smooth transition into the upstream petroleum sector as qualified technicians, he said.

“This will add a further 200 skilled workers to the upstream industry and ensure that increasingly more of the jobs in the upstream sector are now done by Ghanaians.”