South Sudan to inaugurate its first oil data center
The Ministry of Petroleum has revealed that it has completed the construction of its geological data center in the country.
The centre, which will be used to store information on hydrocarbons, minerals and petroleum resources, will be the first-ever facility since the country’s independence in 2011.
Speaking to reporters during the facility’s tour on Friday, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Petroleum Awow Daniel Chuang said the base will help the Ministry of Petroleum and Ministry of Mines facilitate their work.
“This data center is very important for the Ministry of Petroleum and also for the Ministry of Mines because this data center is meant to house all the geological data of South Sudan,” he said.
Awow added that the centre, which took a year to complete, will be inaugurated very soon.
“Our visit today is actually to see the final state of the building and as you have seen it is already finished and we have also started furnishing some of the offices,” he added.
He disclosed that the Ministry of Petroleum has also purchased three aircraft to be used for geological mapping of oil locations.
“We at the Ministry of Petroleum have also started purchasing an aircraft that will map data from South Sudan,” he said.
Mayik Kornelio Koriom, managing director of Nationals for Engineering and Logistics Solutions, the company that built the structure, said the installation cost nearly four million dollars.
“We are the company that was contracted to build this facility and it cost around US$3.7 million,” Koriom said.
The Geological Statistics Facility is located on the Juba-Yei Road opposite UNMISS.
According to Awow, the geo-mapping aircraft is currently registered in Uganda as South Sudan is not eligible at the moment to carry out the process.
He said foreign pilots will also be brought in to train South Sudanese before the country assumes full control and operation of the facility.