Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Geo-Science (Oil and Gas)

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The presence of reliable and affordable energy supplies is key to advancement of modern life. In the developing world, including Malawi, socio-economic growth is seriously hampered by costly and limited energy supplies. It is apparent that for the country to develop there is need to increase the energy capacity (Taulo et al., 2015).
Primary energy sources of the country consist of hydropower (2.8%), biomass (over 85%), coal and petroleum products (8.8%) and minor renewable energy sources (Gumula et al., 2013). Presently, all Petroleum and petroleum products are imported through ports in Mozambique and Tanzania. Malawi consumes about 1,000,000 million litres of petroleum products per day. The fuels are mainly used in transport sector and for power generation DEA (2018). The petroleum industry has however shown to be very sensitive to political turmoil and economic crises, which have considerably negative impacts on small economies like Malawi.
However, Malawi has potential to discover petroleum resources. This is because geologically Malawi is located within the East African Rift System, which is a proven environment for oil and gas. Several companies are already engaged in oil and gas exploration in the lower shire and Lake Malawi basins.
The oil and gas industry is very complex, requiring highly trained and skilled personnel. Despite possessing the potential to become a petroleum producing country in the future, the country does not have adequate expertise in the exploration, exploitation and management of these resources. Presently, there is no tertiary education institution offering specialized training in oil and gas to address the capacity constraints. Therefore, the programme will produce highly trained and skilled professionals who will contribute towards development and use of these oil and gas resources for socio-economic development of the country and poverty reduction (SDG 1, 2, 4 and 8; MGDS III, 6.3; Agenda 2063, Aspiration 1 and 6; Mines Mineral Policy, 2.7, 2007; Research Agenda in Energy, Industry and Engineering, 6.621, 2014). Some of the required skills are: oil and gas exploration, extraction and distribution; petroleum economics; and petroleum law and policy.

Career Prospects
Graduates under this programme will be able to work in a whole range of areas in the mining sector. For example, they can work as mineral explorers, mining engineers, mining policy experts etc

DURATION