Center Title and Acronym: Center of Excellence in Oilfield Chemicals Research (CEFOR)

Host University and Country: University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Center Website Address: www.aceuniport.org

Center Director and email address: Prof. Ogbonna Joel ogbonna.joel@ipsng.org; ogbonna.joel@uniport.edu.ng

Primary Thematic Discipline of Center: Oilfield Chemicals Research

Brief Description of Center: 

The Center of Excellence in Oilfield Chemicals Research (CEFOR), University of Port Harcourt, was established in 2013, to offer international graduate programmes for sustainable development in the petroleum industry. The Center, with funding from the World Bank, aims to address regional development challenges in the oil and gas industry. CEFOR is well positioned to deliver professional and high quality service to the industry through capacity building and cutting edge technology. The center has national accreditation for all 12 of its post graduate programmes.

Key Objectives and Expected Outcomes: 

CEFOR’s key objectives include:

• Promoting home grown and regional research networks that will develop human capital in Africa.
• Strengthening human capacity and serve as training hub for Oil and Gas industry workforce in Africa.
• Filling gaps in labor market demands for skills within these specialized areas.
• Increasing capabilities of faculties and students in Africa through quality postgraduate education, knowledge transfer and internship programmes.
• Running short courses in Petroleum Engineering and related disciplines.

MajorAccomplishments to Date: 

1. 37 of the 1st set of ACE-CEFOR PhD students admitted held their convocation on the 25^th of March, 2017.
2. 208 M.Sc. students graduated from the different Centres that make up CEFOR
3. Through the University/industry-partnership efforts, we have completed the Center’s laboratory facilities.
4. The University/Industry-partnership efforts have also helped us to complete the 2-storey building to house the ACE-CEFOR.
5. Commissioning of NLNG Centre/mini-modular refinery.
6. First International Conference on Oilfield Chemistry and Flow Assurance (Oilflow -2015)

1. 70 new PhD students admitted for the 2016/2017 session
2. The Center received national accreditation from the National Universities Commission for 12 of its post graduate programmes in April 2017.
3. The Center carried out an international gap analysis in June 2017.

Primary Regional and Global Partners: 

1. IFP School, Ecole du Petrole et des moteurs, Cedex France.
2. Total E& P Nigeria LTD
3. University of the Witwatersrand, Richard Ward, 1 Jan Smuts Ave, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2000, South Africa
4. College of Engineering, Kwameh Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
5. Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture(RUFORUM), O Box 16811 Wandegeya | Kampala, Uganda
6. University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
7. Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
8. Moi University , Eldoret, Kenya