- We’re Investing to Develop Petroleum Industry – Total
Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, has said it is investing more in the training and retraining of engineers in petroleum engineering and management with a view to developing Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
The firm’s Managing Director, Mr Nicholas Terraz, stated this during the 15th anniversary/induction of the Institute of Petroleum Studies at the University of Port Harcourt, where 17 graduates bagged Master’s of Science in Petroleum Engineering and Project Development, and 19 others who equally bagged Post Graduate Degree in Petroleum Technology were inducted.
Terraz explained that such an investment would have an impact on nation building, adding that those who took part in the IPS programme would gain from Total’s seven-point strategy on education.
Represented at the event by the Deputy Managing Director, Total E&P, Port Harcourt District, Mr Francois Lecocq, he expressed the firm’s commitment to the French Petroleum Institute’s vision of training young and skilled manpower.
Describing the IPS in Nigeria as a collaborative initiative of the FPI, France, and the NNPC/Total E&P Joint Venture, Terraz pointed out that beneficiaries of the training were equipped with the intellectual and technical competence for the needs of the oil and gas industry.
He said, “Over the years, the institute has consistently followed the vision of training and developing young and highly skilled manpower equipped with the intellectual and technical competence for the needs of the oil and gas industry.
“As Total, we understand the pivotal role of education in nation building and sustainability. We are, therefore, playing our part by impacting the oil and gas industry beyond the Institute of Petroleum Studies through several educational initiatives, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“Total is also leveraging on the Total-University Partnership Programme to establish institutional partnership for research and development aimed at building high-level local capacity for the industry.”
Earlier, the Chairman, Governing Board of IPS, Mr Abiodun Afolabi, explained that the oil firm was currently funding research projects in reservoir engineering, drilling engineering and production engineering in its determination to develop the oil and gas industry.
He said, “Indeed, our vision in the near future is to become the foremost international centre of excellence in Petroleum Geoscience and Technology, Petroleum Economics and Management and Petroleum Policy and Strategic Studies in Africa.”
