Courtesy-of-voanews.com

The Ministry of Petroleum and Mining has launched the country’s first Petroleum and Gas training center in Juba.

The training center has a capacity to take fifty people.

Managing Director of the Nile Petroleum, Paul Ladong, told a gathering yesterday, that there was need to train South Sudanese nationals into the Petroleum and Gas field.

“In the last two and half years, the number of nationals in the sector has increased to about seventy percent. And most of these people are coming into the sector without proper training development. So this training and development center is a response to that need. We need to develop cadres…national cadres in the country to undertake the challenges that the oil sector presents”, Mr. Ladong said.

The Minister of Petroleum, Stephen Dhieu, who officiated at the groundbreaking ceremony said that the center will operate throughout the year.

“This is a great achievement. Congratulations to the Nile Petroleum Management, and congratulation to the Nile Petroleum Staff”, he said.

Mr. Dhieu said the center will ensure that the ministry has more trained and qualified people to work in the oil sector.

Stephen Dhieu said that the establishment of the training center will save the government the expense of sending abroad petroleum and gas students.

The first group of students has been enrolled into the Training Center for this year’s intake.

This is the first training petroleum and gas facility to be established South Sudan.