A Ghanaian deputy Minister of Energy in charge of Petroleum, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has been honoured with the State of Texas recognition award at the fifth edition of the 5th Annual Sub-Saharan Africa Oil & Gas Conference cum the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) held in Houston, Texas USA.

The meritorious award is for his commitment to ensure the creation of a sustainable energy policy in the sub-Saharan region.

According toMr Sunny OputaChief Executive Officer of Energy and Corporate Africa,organisers of this year’s event, the award was given based on Mr. Buah’s contribution towards the development and stimulation of economic growth in the oil and gas sector over the past few years as a Minister responsible for the sector. They added that the Ghanaian minister deserved the award due to his youthful exuberance which has necessitated the rapid growth of his country’s oil sector. They intimated that he ensured that the best laid down policies were duly formulated and implemented. His Excellency Gabriel Obiang Lima, the Minister responsible for Mining, Industry and Energy from the Equatorial Guinea, also won the Rising Star award and was decorated with the Dynamic Regional Leadership award.

Other award winners were Dr Keith Milheim, Director of Meps-First Oil, who won an award for his technological inventions in the development of riser as disruptive deep water drilling technologies; Tullow Oil, represented by Tim O’Hanlon, and the Vice President for African business, was given an award for discovering oil and gas in most of the region’s new frontiers. The trio of Dr Nirajan Banik, Scientific Advisor of Western Geco Schlumberger; Mark Miyaoka, CEO of Terradata Geoscience, and; Dr Jim Spear, won the awards for Research and development in the oil and gas industry.

Ecobank also received an award for its prime involvement in regional oil and gas financing and for her buoyant market expansion as a differentiated pan-African bank.

At the end of the event, participants, exhibitors, sponsors, media partners and a great array of the members of the fourth realm of estate are looking forward to another fruitful mix in the 6th annual sub-Saharan Africa Oil and Gas Conference which has been scheduled to come off in Houston from Thursday, April 25 – Friday, April 26, 2013 with the theme as“Maximizing Exploration & Production through Technology, Financing, Project Management, Risk Aversion & Local Content Policy”