TEN
University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) students
have come out on top for geology
scholarships that
were offered by Swala Oil and Gas Tanzania
Limited
after fierce competition for the slots.
According to
a statement issued
by the
company, there were many
applicants for the
scholarships. "We are delighted that these ten
students
have been accepted for our scholarship
programme. We had many applicants and the
successful ones stood out, not just because
of their
vision and plans, but also due to their scores in
relevant subjects," Swala Chief Executive
Officer, Mr
David Ridge, said.
Mr
Ridge said his company looked forward to work
with the students during their
geology course. The
winning students are Joel Haule, Robert Kisimbo,
Andrew Maronga, Denis Muhoka, Rafael Ngole
, Levina Pangani, Lucy Pangani, Emmanuel Rajabu,
Anita Ringia and John
Sospeter.
The head of the Geology
department at the University
of Dar es Salaam, Dr Shukrani Manya, commended
Swala for offering the 10 undergraduate students
pursuing a Bachelor
of Science programme in
Geology a fully paid sponsorship.
“Not only does the offer
enable the students to
pursue their studies with assured funding support,
but
it also helps in building the much-needed
capacity,
especially for the oil and gas sub-sector
which is in its infancy in
Tanzania," he said.
Dr Manya explained that the
spin-off impact from this
programme will enhance collaboration between
Tanzanian local universities and the private mining
sector. Furthermore, the students who won the
scholarship are expected to serve the nation as well
as being
trained and qualified human resource in
the booming mining industry in the country.
To be considered for the
scholarship, students were
required to have been accepted at the University of
Dar es Salaam for the geology course, have
outstanding academic results and apply for the grant
through a website.
According
to the East Africa Gas - Potential for Export
report published by the Oxform
Institute for energy
studies, it was truly remarkable how East
Africa and
specifically Mozambique and Tanzania, have in a
short space of time become the focus of attention as
a source of new
global gas supply.
The report said that five
years ago, the two countries
would not have appeared on a list of potential
suppliers of large volumes of gas and Liquefied
natural gas (LNG). "What
has particularly captured
the industry’s attention is the size of the ‘reserves per
well’ being reported.
In Tanzania the 8
successful wells to date have been
found to have 18 Tcf (i.e. 2 Tcf/well),
while in
Mozambique the 12 successful wells have been
found
with 85 Tcf, which equates to an astonishing 7
Tcf/well3," the report read
in part.
The
report said that a fundamental question being
asked by many observers is why
the gas prospects of
this region have only come to the attention of
the gas
world in the past few years.
Swala is an affiliated
company of Swala Energy
Limited, a company listed on the Australian Stock
Exchange with ticker ‘SWE’. Swala’s holdings are in
the
world-class East African Rift System with a total
net land package in excess of 17,500km2.
New discoveries have been
announced in a number
of licences along this trend, including Ngamia and
Twigga, which extend the multibillion barrel Albert
Graben play so successfully
developed by Tullow Oil
into the eastern arm
of the rift.
