The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) are exploring avenues for collaboration to strengthen Ghana’s downstream petroleum industry through research, technical training and knowledge sharing.
A statement released by the NPA on Tuesday said the Chief Executive Officer of the NPA, Mr Godwin Kudzo Tameklo, Esq., gave the indication when a delegation from UMaT, led by the Dean of the School of Petroleum Studies, Professor Richard Amorin, paid a courtesy call on him on Tuesday, October 20, 2026.
The meeting focused on potential areas of collaboration between the two institutions, including student internships, specialised training for teaching staff and the development of technical capacity to support the downstream petroleum sector.
Mr Tameklo emphasised the importance of academia in driving innovation and advancing the industry, expressing the Authority’s commitment to strengthening its engagement with universities and other academic institutions.
“We would want to continue the engagement with academia because we strongly believe that it will propel the downstream industry, because what academia does is to come up with innovative ways of doing things,” he said.
As part of the proposed collaboration, the NPA will explore internship opportunities for UMaT students, particularly in the Authority’s technical departments, to provide them with practical industry experience.
“The Authority will also be looking at the possibility of offering some students of the University internship opportunities in some of the technical departments of the NPA, because sometimes it is good for the students to have first-hand opportunity to experience things for themselves,” he said.
Other areas discussed included specialised training and secondment opportunities for UMaT teaching staff, the possible inclusion of the university in training programmes under the proposed NPA Centre of Excellence, and the potential retooling of a laboratory at UMaT as part of the initiative.
Professor Amorin thanked the NPA leadership for its willingness to engage with the university and explore mutually beneficial areas of cooperation.
“We want to say thank you for having us and for having the openness to collaborate with us. We will relay this information to the Vice Chancellor, and hopefully we can firm up some of the discussions we have had going forward,” he said.
Both institutions expressed optimism that the discussions would pave the way for a formal partnership that bridges the gap between academic research and industry practice while strengthening the technical expertise needed to support the downstream petroleum sector.
The NPA continues to pursue partnerships with academic institutions as part of efforts to promote innovation, build technical capacity and support the effective regulation, oversight and monitoring of Ghana’s downstream petroleum industry.
