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Two welding devices donated to an educational project in Tanzania

The SLB Group has donated two welding devices to the welding laboratories of the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology and the Karume Institute of Science and Technology in Tanzania. In doing so, we support a wonderful local oil and gas project to develop students’ technical welding skills.

It is sometimes hard for organisations in developing countries to find well-trained employees. The SLB GROUP donated two welding devices to an educational project that runs from 2015 to 2018 to benefit technical students in Tanzania who will be working in the oil and gas industry in the future. This project is an initiative of the PUM Netherlands senior experts foundation, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, TU Delft, the University of Twente and Utrecht University.

Developing welding skills
In addition to a theoretical component, the programme also has a significant practical component. It was therefore necessary to expand and further furnish the laboratory. The first group of students started their new energy programme with enthusiasm in late 2015. They are glad to have the donated welding devices. “Foreign investors and specialists help the local population get ahead, so they will ultimately possess the requisite knowledge pertaining to oil and gas themselves,” says Henny Ottens of the PUM Netherlands senior experts foundation. “That is important, because a huge gas field has been discovered off the coast of Tanzania. The country is eager to exploit these resources itself, but that requires certain knowledge and expertise. A welding education is also needed to develop students’ welding skills. The SLB GROUP’s donation helps us improve the knowledge and expertise of the people in Tanzania.”

Making global players even better

Our organisations operate at the heart of the Dutch agri-industrial and food industries. These are fields in which our country holds an international top position. Did you know, for example, that the Netherlands is the world’s second-largest exporter of agri-industrial and food products, or that we are the third-largest exporter of machinery for the food industry? Twenty percent of our country’s GDP is earned in the agri-industrial and food industries. At the SLB GROUP, we have a clear mission: to make innovative global players in these sectors even better.