Government urged to establish oil and gas varsities and colleges

By Prosper Makene

Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC)

The government has been urged to establish colleges and universities to offer oil and gas courses so as to produce as many experts as possible in this fast growing sector.


Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Guardian shortly after the two-day East Africa Oil and Gas Summit in Dar es Salaam last week, Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) Acting Director of Exploration, Production and Technical Services, Dr Emma Msaky said the government should consider establishing special training colleges for oil and gas training.

“Our country has massive oil and gas deposits and yet there are very limited experts to manage the various positions. It’s therefore important that the government sets up special colleges for the oil and gas fields,” she said.
She added: If we could have many Tanzanians with bachelor’s degrees in oil and gas, it would be a huge step forward towards achieving economic emancipation.”

Meanwhile, UK based organisation MDT International has partnered with Tanzanian Calderberg International Energy Corporation to introduce financial, commercial and management training courses for the oil and gas industry in the country so as to help its personnel to enhance their skills - and performance at the workplaces.

Speaking with reporters in Dar es Salaam on Thursday, MDT International General Manager Douglas Reid said that Tanzania needs more training on oil and gas to help the stakeholders to go deeper in understanding the new discoveries of natural gas.

“We have started providing oil and gas training since 1992, MDT International has delivered thousands of training courses in over 70 countries designed to help oil and gas industry personnel to enhance their skills - and their performance in the workplace,” he noted.

He also said that for the particular training market, all course material that will be provided are customised to be company-specific and developed wherever possible in close consultation with client management and HR/training departments.

“Like most companies associated with the oil and gas industry, we see huge potential in East Africa and we are establishing a material business from MDT International in the region as well as here in Tanzania,” he said.

He named the courses that will be provided as introduction to the downstream oil and gas industry, introduction to petroleum geology, introduction to natural gas, business skills workshop for developing managers, high-impact presentation skills among others.