The Ministry of Petroleum through its Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project (OGCBP) last week commissioned two state of the art laboratories, the chemical and petrochemical laboratories for KNUST’s College of Engineering.

During a ceremony held at the University, the Petroleum Minister, Hon. Emmanuel Armah-kofi Buah in an address delivered on his behalf by Mr. J.B. Okai, Director for Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PPME) at the Petroleum Ministry indicated that the Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project seeks to improve public management and regulatory capacity while enhancing transparency; and strengthen local technical skills in Ghana’s oil and gas sector.

The Minister also emphasized that “to date a total amount of US$12.9 million has been spent on KNUST’s laboratory refurbishment, goods and equipment, and training” he said.

Vice Chancellor of the school, Prof. W. O. Ellis thanked Government for the continuous support in building the capacity of the University. According to Prof. Ellis, the University will apply strict maintenance rules to ensure that the laboratories are always in good condition.

The Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project has supported KNUST in various ways. To date, a total of 11-staff of the university has benefitted from postgraduate education abroad. This consists of 7 Master of Science Degrees (MSc) and 4 Doctorate Degrees (PhD).

Six of the MSc have been at post since the beginning of the 2014/2015 academic year and constitute the foundation of staffing in the petroleum Engineering program.

A number of short-term visits by international staff to lecture on the existing undergraduate program have also been facilitated by the project.

Furthermore, books and reference materials have been procured and installed in the College of Engineering Library. A new building housing the six thematic Petroleum engineering laboratories and equipment was commissioned in April 2015.

Space has been refurbished in the chemical and petrochemical laboratories for chemical and petrochemical engineering. Last but not least, equipment worth about US$2.5 million has been procured and set up in 4 thematic Labs: Process Development Lab, the unit Operations Lab, Biotechnology Lab and Instrumentation lab.

Prof. S. I. K Ampadu, Provost, College of Engineering in his special recognition address stated that the College of Engineering is now well-equipped to train students in both upstream and downstream sector of the oil and gas industry because of the Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project (OGCBP) by Government.

Currently what remains outstanding for KNUST under the OGCBP is the completion of training of 4 PhD students in the Petroleum and Petrochemical Engineering Departments.

It is expected that 2 PhD holders will return to the College of Engineering later this year while the remaining two will join the faculty next year.

In addition, 7 laboratory staff have been earmarked for training this year on the use of the newly installed equipment.

Other beneficiary institutions under the Oil and Gas Capacity Project since 2010 include: Petroleum Commission (PC), Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Economic and Organized Crimes Office (EOCO), Attorney General’s Department (AG), Regional Maritime University (RMU), Takoradi Technical Institute (TTI), Kikam Technical Institute (KTI) and Ministry of Petroleum (MoPET).