BG Tanzania, a global British gas major has announced a funding opportunity for the Petroleum Geology course at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) for the academic year 2015-16. The course is a Master’s degree course.

As a measure to contribute to the academic development of the UDSM, the funding guarantees institutional support to the Department of Geology. There shall be a multi-year participatory action between UDSM and University of Aberdeen (UoA). BG Tanzania and the Embassy of the Netherlands are providing institutional support.

This includes a temporary secondment of lecturers and mentors and PhD scholarships from UoA for two lectures from UDSM to carry out research and teaching activity.

The funding opportunity shall cover tuition fees and other expenses. The grant will cover 13 students in the first cohort of the MSc Petroleum Geology.

BG Tanzania is also expected to contribute USD 2.2 million over the next four years for the academic activities of UDSM. The programmes under the funding include MSc in Geology, Structural Engineering, Construction Management, Environmental Science and Engineering, Engineering in Maintenance Management, Construction Economics and Management, Power Electronics and Electrical Drives. The funding commences from October, 2015.

While speaking about the new funding opportunity, Derek Hudson, President and Asset General Manager, BG East Africa, said, “We are delighted to provide institutional support to the University of Dar es Salaam’s Geology Department to build its teaching and improve its research capacity in petroleum geology. We will continue to support skills development initiatives, to ensure that Tanzanians can gain competencies that will enable them develop further expertise relevant to and around the oil and gas sector.” BG Tanzania aims to develop the oil and gas sector of Tanzania by enabling Tanzanians to actively participate in this process.

The attempt by the BG Tanzania strives to disseminate requisite skills and competencies among the citizens and government officials dealing with country’s vast oil and natural gas corridor.

Social investments by the BG Tanzania includes an International Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme and the hiring of Tanzanians for the International Graduate Program.

The oil and gas production activity is done by only five countries in Africa: Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Egypt and Angola.

It is important to note that the entire Africa consists of 50 countries. But there is a slow change happening in the oil and gas industry as more countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Somalia and Ethiopia join the bandwagon. Tanzania Mozambique is known for the biggest natural gas producers in Africa.

The BP statistics on Energy resources read that Africa has oil reserves of 132,438 billion barrels in 2011. It is 8.1 percent of the world reserves. What affects the prospect is the lack of infrastructure and technical know-how. The development of such economic projects will not only foster national growth, but also will help in creating huge job opportunities.

The BG Tanzania held an official event to grant the funding. It was attended by the Hon. Mr. George Simbachawene, Minister for Energy and Minerals. Officials from Tanzanian Government, BG Tanzania, diplomatic members from Tanzania, British High Commissioner, Ambassadors of the Netherlands and Sweden, various other Oil and Gas corporations operating in Tanzania, faculty members and students from UDSM also attended the event.

For more information about the UDSM and the programs, interested students can click here.