News Releases

UWI, NGC help develop future energy sector leaders in Guyana

For Release Upon Receipt - April 3, 2020

St. Augustine


The UWI St. Augustine Campus and the National Energy Company of Trinidad and Tobago (National Energy) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will see the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) Group hosting students from the University of Guyana (UG) for a one-week study tour. The MOU signing, which took place on March 10 at National Energy’s Couva Head Office in Trinidad, is part of the UWI’s MSC in Petroleum Engineering being offered to students of the UG.

The project element of the programme will allow these students to tour NGC and five of its subsidiaries, Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited (PPGPL), Trinidad and Tobago NGL Limited (TTNGL), La Brea Industrial Development Company Limited (LABIDCO), NGC CNG Company Limited (NGC CNG) and National Energy. The tour, which is scheduled to take place between May and July 2020, reflects a commitment by The UWI, National Energy and the NGC Group to provide learning and developmental opportunities for the next generation of energy sector leaders in Guyana and the wider Caribbean.

The MOU was signed by UWI St. Augustine Pro-Vice Chancellor and Campus Principal Professor Brian Copeland and National Energy President Dr. Vernon Paltoo. Professor Copeland was represented at the signing by Distinguished Fellow and Professor of Practice Andrew Jupiter, Coordinator of the MSc in Petroleum Engineering programme, and Professor of Petroleum Engineering Raffie Hosein, Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Coordinator of the MSc Reservoir Engineering Programme at The UWI St. Augustine.

In expressing gratitude to National Energy, Professors Hosein and Jupiter pointed to the benefits of the internship programme, saying it will not only prepare the students to enter the world of work, but also develop and sustain the energy sector in Guyana and the region.

Speaking at the signing, Dr. Paltoo stated “During the one-week study tour, they will be exposed to all aspects of the energy value chain, from upstream to downstream, and they will spend time at all member companies.”

Ms. Wendy Seow, General Manager of LABIDCO, said an office in Guyana was recently opened by National Energy on behalf of the NGC Group. She also expressed the NGC Group’s commitment to building the relationship between Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.

 

“Through this partnership we are contributing to the next generation of energy sector leaders in Guyana,” she said.

END

About The UWI

For over 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world. The UWI has evolved from a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally respected, regional university with near 50,000 students and four campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, and an Open Campus. As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa including the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Centre for Leadership and Sustainable Development; the Canada-Caribbean Studies Institute with Brock University; the Strategic Alliance for Hemispheric Development with Universidad de los Andes (UNIANDES); the UWI-China Institute of Information Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies and the Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of Johannesburg (UJ). The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport. 

As the region’s premier research academy, The UWI’s foremost objective is driving the growth and development of the regional economy. Times Higher Education ranked The UWI among the top 1,258 universities in world for 2019, and the 40 best universities in its Latin America Rankings for 2018. The UWI was the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists.  For more, visit www.uwi.edu.

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI)

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