CNOOC Uganda Limited held a prestigious send-off ceremony to celebrate the achievements of its International Scholarship Program beneficiaries.

The event marked a significant milestone in the journey of three outstanding Ugandan students who are set to pursue a Bachelor of Petroleum Engineering at the China University of Petroleum-East China, company executives said on Sept. 26.

The purpose of this scholarship program is to enhance capacity-building and skills development in the oil and gas industry and to promote and ensure national content participation in the oil and gas industry.

Since 2014, the oil company has sponsored a total number of eight Ugandan students, five at the bachelor’s level and three at the master’s level to undertake studies at China University of Petroleum (East-China). “These will continue in their footsteps to become our future drilling engineers, production engineers, and completions engineers in the Ugandan oil and gas sector,” reads part of the statement.

Liu Xiangdong, President of CNOOC Uganda Limited, expressed immense pride and honor in bidding farewell to the upcoming scholars describing them as ‘exceptional’. It is currently drilling oil wells in the Kingfisher area, in the Lake Albertine Graben ahead of the country’s first oil scheduled for 2025.