KIGEZI STAR Total Energies Trains Bunyoro, Nwoya youths for oil, gas skilling

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Over 200 youths in Hoima, Buliisa, Masindi, Kikuube, and Kakumiro are the districts in Bunyoro Region have been selected by TotalEnergies to provide part of the who will join others from Nwoya and other districts through which the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) will pass for oil and gas skilling.

The youth will undergo training in various fields in skilling and international certification in the resource required in the Tilenga project that is being developed in Buliisa and Nwoya districts during the production phase in 2025.

These will join the Tilenga Academy training programme at various institutes including the Uganda Petroleum Institute, Kigumba (UPIK) in Kiryandongo district in Bunyoro region.

Selected through a competitive Tilenga Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that attracted 13,000 applicants, the trainees will undergo a two and half year-training starting with the UPIK followed by international oil and gas training centres and a hands-on experience during the Tilenga project installation and commissioning.

The youth will undergo theoretical training in oil and gas production, maintenance, health, safety and environment, with 31 per cent specialising in production, 27 per cent in mechanical maintenance, 26 per cent in instrumentation and 16 per cent in electrical maintenance.

This training is part of TotalEnergies EP Uganda’s national content programme aimed to skill Ugandans in oil and gas with 50 which is 25 per cent of the trainees hailing from the resource host districts of Hoima, Buliisa, Masindi and Nwoya and some EACOP districts.

According to Total General Manager, Mr Philippe Groueix, in order to be gender-sensitive, 46 of the trainees are women.

Oscar Muhumuza, a lecturer at UPIK, said the institute is able to accommodate more than 400 students adding that in collaboration with TotalEnergies EP Uganda, the general accommodation capacity will be improved.