The USC Department of Geological Sciences has launched an exchange program with the National University of Equatorial Guinea in Africa to train Equatorial Guineans to work in the country’s newfound and rapidly developing oil industry.
Program administrators are anticipating the effort will be expanded in the near future and could become a model for similar efforts in other academic disciplines.
 |
| Kellogg |
“Our hope is that the National University in Malabo (the capital city) can become a leading center of education for central Africa,” said James N. Kellogg, professor and chair of the geological sciences department, who noted that in the near future, the country’s vast oil reserves give it the potential of becoming “the wealthiest per capita nation in Africa.”
Equatorial Guinea, the second smallest country in Africa with a population of only 400,000 people on the continent’s mid-western coast, is sitting on giant oil reserves fueling the world’s fastest growing economy, Kellogg said. “The money is coming in very quickly, and much of the country is going to be developed in the next five years.”
The exchange program, which enrolled its first 22 students from the country in September, is preparing the students for geological engineering degrees. The department hopes to bring four or five of the best students to USC next year where they will receive full scholarships for bachelor’s degrees in geology from the University.
The program, known as GEGEO (Guinea Equatorial Geology) was started with the sponsorship of South Atlantic Natural Resources, a small earth resources firm run by the father-son team of Ted and Terence Barr. The company was one of the first to recognize Equatorial Guinea’s oil potential and turned to USC in partnership with Exxon-Mobil to get the exchange program started under an initial $500,000 grant.
Both of the Barrs are long-time friends of the USC geological sciences department.
Devon Energy, Amerada-Hess Triton, and Marathon oil companies also have indicated an interest in backing the project, whose funding could grow to $1 million a year.
 |
| Chacon |
The start-up of the program included the hiring of two instructors fluent in English and Spanish, the latter being Equatorial Guinea’s native language. Marthin Llano is teaching geology, and Stephan Langdon was hired to teach English. The project manager in Columbia is Adriana Chacon, a native ofColombia fluent in Spanish and English who attended USC’s English Program for Internationals after working in Colombia for 11 years in marketing and sales.
Salomon Ngu and Afredo Ovono, two natives of Equatorial Guinea who are both USC master’s degree recipients in geology who studied under associate professor James Knapp, are working in the country’s Ministry of Mines and Energy and are helping oversee oil exploration in the country.
There are numerous opportunities for employment in the oil industry because of the current exploration and the potential for the economic return that it will bring, Kellogg said. He added that opportunity also beckons in related technical fields and in other areas of the country’s infrastructure that will be brought into the 21st century.
“There isn’t enough being done to funnel money back to the Equatorial Guineans,” Kellogg said. “One purpose of this project and others like it will be to get that wealth back into their hands so they can train people to participate in the oil exploration and also build the country’s infrastructure.” He added that USC also is working on setting up a satellite link to the National University of Equatorial Guinea so that courses can be taught there online or in a real time remote classroom link-up.
In addition to the opportunities for employment in energy and related technical fields, Kellogg said, there are opportunities for research and training in the health care industry, biological research, coastal studies, environmental studies, social work, and education, particularly in the training of technicians and engineers.
In the public health sector alone, Kellogg said, Equatorial Guinea has rich research potential, particularly in grants from the National Institute of Health. President Sorensen plans a trip to the country in March 2004 to look at the geological exchange program and to investigate the potential for using it as a model for the start-up of similar efforts in the health care sector.
College of Science and Mathematics Dean Gerald M. Crawley and Knapp of the geological sciences department have been helpful and supportive of the exchange project, and have traveled to the country on two occasions to assist with its start-up and implementation, Kellogg said.
In addition to Equatorial Guinea, oil reserves also have been found in the neighboring countries of Nigeria, Angola, Gabon, Cameroon, and the Ivory Coast.
“The west coast of Africa is one of the key exploration areas in the world for giant oil fields, making it one of the most important areas strategically in the world right now with the security issues in the Middle East,” Kellogg said. “Any way we can find other stable sources of oil is obviously in our interest.”
12/03
|
USC’s Geological Sciences Department is helping train students at the National University of Equatorial Guinea in Malabo to prepare them for careers in the country’s burgeoning energy industry. 
