Offshore Engineering: IOCs Absorb Pioneer Students In Centre Of Excellence

The pioneer students of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC JV)-sponsored Centre of Excellence in Marine and Offshore Engineering at the Rivers State University (RSU CoE), Port Harcourt, have commenced the mandatory six months’ Research Internship with Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) in Lagos.
The Research Internship is a key requirement for the award of the Master of Science degree after a year of academic work.
While four students are working with SNEPCo, three others are with Total Exploration and Production Nigeria and the remaining three students are with BW Offshore in a successful collaboration between industry and academia.
Speaking at a ceremony, SPDC General Manager External Relations, Igo Weli, said, “The Research Internship enables the students to have critical industry-experience, hands-on practical training and opportunity to undertake post-graduate research under competent industry supervisors and working with state-of-the-art facilities.
“The programme enables us to graduate industry-ready young Nigerians and domicile in-country several services usually provided by expatriates,” he said.
The Director of the RSU CoE, Dr. Ibiba Douglas, said, “All 10 pioneer students of the centre have commenced internship in the respective companies to which they are engaged and after the Internship phase, in December, 2019, the students, on their return to school, will defend their M.Sc. thesis in order to graduate.”
Meanwhile, eight post graduate students of another SPDC JV-sponsored Centre of Excellence in Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Benin (UniBen CoE), who recently concluded the compulsory six months Internship with SPDC, have described the experience as “a landmark in their career.”