Chinese ZPEC to set up oil rig parts plant, train 2,200 Ugandans

Officials from Chinese Zhongman Petroleum and Natural Gas Group Corp Ltd.

(ZPEC), one of the major players in the oil drilling engineering contract business; and the manufacture and sale of petroleum drilling equipment have met with Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda to outline their plans to boost local content in the oil sector.

During the meeting, Henry Zheng, the ZPEC Managing Director for the Africa region noted that the company, which is set to supply rigs to firms in Uganda's oil rich Albertine graben, is weighing up plans to establish a local plant for oil rig components.

Currently, ZPEC has two rig manufacturers in Chengdu and Shanghai, China. According to Wikipedia.org, oil rigs have 28 components. The oil rig industry is estimated to be worth in excess of $50b (sh182 trillion).
 
As the first registered Chinese company at the National Supplier Database 2018 (under reference numberNS-10212/17/379), Zheng noted that the company is set to train about 2,200 Ugandans such as rigers, slingers, and other oil fuel engineers.
 
"As the development of Uganda's oil fields in Lake Albert takes off, more and more oil and gas related companies will come to Uganda to make investments, which will help Uganda's economy progress to middle income status," Zheng said.

He noted that the company's recent successful listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on November 17, 2017, where it targeted market capitalization of around $3b (about sh 11 trillion), will boost its expansion agenda.