Tilenga: The project changing Uganda's oil skills story
Workers at an oil site in western Uganda. Many Ugandan workers have gained on-the-job and classroom oil and gas skills, supported by the Tilenga oil project. Photo / File ILE
What you need to know:
- Of the 16,000 people so far employed in the oil and sector, 90 percent are Ugandans
Even before oil flows, Tilenga had added a price tag on the Ugandan oil and gas ecosystem.
Uganda is eyeing first oil early next year. And the stockpile of experts to manage it has already been well built and made sufficient.
According to Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU), even before oil starts, the Tilenga oil project has started having a multiplier effect on the economy by creating a critical mass of experts with both local and international skills.
Speaking at the flagging off of training for 800 Ugandan youths, who are expected to drill the first oil to be produced next year, Betty Namubiru, the PAU national content manager, said unlike other oil producing countries that have only benefited from the revenue generated from selling the product, Ugandans working in the industry have now graduated from doing basic jobs to taking on supervisory and managerial roles in the industry.
“This is not very small, it is huge in terms of achievement. We have Ugandans working across jobs in finance, procurement, engineering, and geo-sciences. Ugandans have improved from basic level to supervisory and managerial roles, and it is creating a pool of human resource which means job. This is a big contribution to employment,” she said.
Of the 16,000 employed in the oil and gas sector, 90 percent are Ugandans, which means increased contribution to tax and improvement of livelihoods.
She also highlighted that many Ugandans have since acquired sufficient skills through on-the-job and skill upgrading to be employed in any oil and gas sector anywhere across the world.
Yesterday, Sinopec and Sunmaker, flagged off the training of 800 Ugandans who are supposed to be deployed in the Tilenga Central Processing Facility.
Ms Namubiru also said close to 4,000 Ugandans are employed as technicians, machine operators, scaffolders, welders, pipefitters, and in other fields.
At the same event, Mr Yi Xuhui the Sinopec project manager, said before they joined the Ugandan oil and gas business, they trained 900 Ugandans outside the country because they knew that the central processing facility, is a very large area, required training many people.
“We trained 900 offshore for the central processing facility. There were no experienced local people. We have created more teams to do installation, piping, operate the facility and they also understand maintenance,” he said.
Mr Han Bin, the CNOOC commercial manager, said the Tilenga project is not only a testament of partnership, but also a platform for building Uganda’s energy future through local empowerment.
“Its lasting legacy will be measured not only by the oil we produce, but by the human capital we cultivate. This training initiative with a total target of 836 Ugandan talents and 312 pioneers starting today, is a strong demonstration of that commitment,” he said.
Measure of success
The success of the training, according to CNOOC, will be measured not by how many certificates will be issued but by how effectively the graduates are integrated into Uganda’s oil and gas value chain, whether within Tilenga or elsewhere.
It will also be a key measure of how Ugandans can now use locally acquired skills internationally.
