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Ghana has come a long way since production of oil in 2010.

However, the institutional environment needed to assure optimal benefits to all citizens from the resource is still woefully inadequate.

A number of factors contribute to the failing performance of Ghana's oil and gas sector.

Legislation to enhance transparency and accountability in the sector is weak and Parliamentary oversight of government's revenues and expenditure is poor.

It is therefore in respect of these and several factors that the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA)organized a forum on Wednesday into the dwindling away of the country's oil and gas sector.

The IEA held a stakeholders' forum on the theme: "Five years of oil production in Ghana; Opportunities and challenges of oil production in Ghana" to roll out measures to remedy the petroleum sector.

In the welcome address, the Executive Director of the IEA Mrs. Jean Mensa noted that the nation's "oil was first discovered in significant quantities in Ghana in 2007, the history of the petroleum exploration in the country dates back to over 100 years. The West African Oil and Fuel Company is on record as the first oil company to begin exploration in the then Gold Coast in 1896.

She further added that "Ghana is fortunate in the sense that we have the opportunity to learn from the experiences of countries that have managed their petroleum resources wisely and not wisely. Parliament is to be congratulated for enacting the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA)."

Though commending the petroleum authorities for their immense contribution in discovering and managing the country's petroleum, the IEA raised red flags over some challenges confronting the oil and gas sector.

Dr. John Kwakye, the Senior Research Fellow of the institute, called for transparency in the Ministry of Petroleum's awarding of contracts.

According to him, the Ministry should ensure that engage in fraudulent contracts. The authorities were urged to provide relevant information on the details of contract and petroleum agreements they have with stakeholders and investors.

He also called for public disclosure of information on the contracts and petroleum agreements .

The Executive Director of Kumasi Institute of Technology, Energy and Environment (KITE) Ishmael Edjekumhene also outlined some challenges.

Addressing the gathering at the IEA Conference Hall, he called on government to fully resource the petroleum watchdogs such as Parliament, in order to promote efficiency and transparency in the sector.

He called for effective collection and management of government's revenues in the sector.

He also disclosed that despite the challenges facing the oil and gas sector, the sector has since employed about 7000 people in the upstream petroleum.

"Out of the 7000 employees, 5600 are Ghanaians. 75% of the total population in the petroleum sector is Ghanaians. 200 graduates are expected to be taken in as interns from next year to have the requisite training, which will in turn boost the oil and gas sector," he noted.