Scholarships and Education Programmes

SPDC operates various scholarship schemes, a welcome feature of educational development, especially in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria.

2020/2021 NNPC/SPDC Joint Venture University Scholarship Awards

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (Operator of the NNPC/SPDC /TEPNG/AGIP Joint Venture) runs robust scholarship programmes which date back to the 1950s and have supported thousands of students, most especially from our host communities, many of whom are among Nigeria’s business, political and social leaders. The objective of the SPDC JV scholarship programmes is to develop Nigeria’s talent of the future. In furtherance of this objective and to promote academic excellence among young Nigerians particularly those from less-privileged background, the SPDC invites applications from suitably qualified full-time Nigerian Students admitted in the 2019/2020 academic session to apply for the SPDC JV University scholarship awards.

University Scholarship Scheme

Education, as all parents and guardians admit, is a long-term investment with an equally long gestation period, but it is one of the best legacies to bequeath to individuals, groups and society. That has been the belief of Shell Nigeria since 1952. In 2014, $14.8 million was invested in scholarships by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo).

Cradle-to-Career Scholarship

The Cradle-to-Career Scholarship is an all-inclusive scholarship programme that provides opportunities for brilliant pupils of less-privileged background to attend reputable secondary schools in Nigeria.

Secondary School Scholarship Scheme

The Secondary School Scholarship Scheme is to enhance academic achievements among the students in SPDC host community schools.

Niger Delta Postgraduate Scholarship

This is an overseas scholarship programme that gives 10 places to candidates from SPDC’s operational areas to study for postgraduate qualifications at three top British institutions.

Open primarily to talented Nigerian Postgraduate Students in Nigerian Universities but in exceptional cases to Nigerians in Overseas Universities.

The Research Internship programme provides the framework for the direct transfer of practical and current industry experience to Nigerian university research students. With the understanding of their university-appointed supervisors, graduate students (MSc, Ph.D) spend a year in Shell to conduct research on the E&P challenges of the Company.

The research reports produced by the interns at the end of the internship are adapted for presentation to their universities for the award of higher degrees. Shell offers approximately 20 research internship appointments yearly. Emoluments given to the interns cumulate to N50 million annually. A number of interns have taken up appointment with Shell on completion of their studies.

The Graduate Awareness Program consists of campus fairs, knowledge sharing, career talks and interview skills workshops. It is focussed on top academic performers at the penultimate and final year classes, and apprises students of new or emerging industry technological developments.

The Graduate Awareness Program consists of campus fairs, knowledge sharing, career talks and interview skills workshops. It is focussed on top academic performers at the penultimate and final year classes, and apprises students of new or emerging industry technological developments. It also provides high potential students with information about Shell, and the types of activities the Company engages in. It aims at creating a desire in students to pursue a career in Shell.

The program has been conducted in University of Abuja; Federal University of Technology, Minna; Federal University of Technology, Yola; American University of Nigeria, Yola; University of Jos; Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi; University of Maiduguri; Bayero University, Kano; and Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto.

The programme seeks to leverage on the capacity in Nigerian universities to conduct R&D studies, and thus enable select universities (Shell Chair institutions) to become not just centres for resolving E&P challenges, but also platforms for effective training and development of future E&P recruits. 

In 1996, Shell began an initiative that would enable experts, particularly the Shell Professors, from various disciplines in Nigerian universities to help in providing solutions to the company’s Exploration & Production challenges through Research and Development projects. Such challenges had previously been referred to research laboratories in Europe and the United States for resolution. Under this programme, Shell invests in the development of research facilities in relevant disciplines in these universities, and also provides funds for the payment of research personnel.

The programme seeks to leverage on the available capacity in Nigerian universities to conduct R&D studies, and thus enable select universities (Shell Chair institutions) to become not just centres for resolving E&P challenges, but also platforms for effective training and development of future E&P recruits.

The following R&D studies have been conducted:

• In search of evidence for hydrocarbon induced magnetic anomalies in the Niger Delta province – a cost saving approach to finding prospects. Prof S.B. Ojo, Shell Professor of Geophysics, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife. 2009
• Locating by-passed oil and enhanced definition of prospects using rock properties, reservoir petrophysical parameters and 4D seismic in two fields. Prof J.O. Ebeniro, Geophysics Research Group, Department of Physics, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt. 2009
• Hazardous air pollutants in urban, rural and industrial areas. Lead researcher: Prof C.T.I. Odu, Shell Professor of Environmental Studies, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt. 2006
• Development of a realistic simulation model for the Diebu Creek E1000X reservoir. Lead researcher: Prof G.K. Falade, Shell Professor of Petroleum Engineering, University of Ibadan, Ibadan. 2005

The Sabbatical and Research Attachment programmes were initiated in the early 1980s to support the Nigerian Academia in acquiring oil industry experience.

Open to academic staff of Nigerian universities who have attained the position of Senior Lecturer and above, the programme offers them an opportunity to conduct studies on exploration and production challenges and to work on assignments that add value to Company business.

Through this programme, university lecturers gain useful experience and exposure to new technologies that they would take back to the classroom, thus enabling the transfer of new concepts in the industry as well as the latest technologies to students. To date, 320 Professors, Associate Professors, Senior Lecturers and postgraduate students have benefited from the programnes.

Shell Guest Lectureship and Summer Schools programme is a provision through which Shell staff impart their industry experience and knowledge to Nigerian university students. In this way, the company seeks to contribute to the enhancement of educational standards in Exploration & Production disciplines in Nigerian Universities.

In 2014, 100 students from six universities in the Niger Delta benefited from the weeklong Annual Shell Summer School for Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering.

The programme involved lectures, group discussions, syndicate practical sessions, interactive sessions and practical exercises in Geoscience, Engineering disciplines; Petroleum Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Petrochemical Engineering, Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science.