Tapping the potential of Africa's oil

All that has been changed by the Chinese and local workers' dedication. Fu said that in just four months, the first cargo of drills, cranes and other equipment arrived from China at the Nigerien border. The then energy and mining minister was so shocked that he immediately decided to go there to welcome the cargo.

Actually, everyone from the energy and petroleum minister to project managers, and from the prime minister to ordinary employees, said that they were impressed by the Chinese culture of industriousness.

Souleymane Habiboulaye, a manager at CNPC's Niger company who has worked for the company since it was launched, said he learned a lot from his Chinese colleagues' professional skills, punctuality and "fix the problem" spirit.

"In the startup period, we encountered numerous tough problems. CNPC workers never give up. They fix them bit by bit," Souleymane said.

Despite CNPC's efforts, complaints also existed among Nigeriens, with some saying Chinese companies are good at churning out roads, factories and bridges, but are reluctant to transfer their technological know-how.

But Abdoua Louche Hassane, who has worked for CNPC from its beginnings in Niger and is now the chief coordinator of the Agadem project, said this is not true.

"Oil engineering expertise is complicated. It cannot be taught in a day or two. But some Nigeriens are not patient enough to learn. They left before they grasped the necessary expertise," Hassane said.

This is confirmed by Dong Jing, a manager at the drilling rig. He said it generally takes him two years to train a skilled Nigerien rig worker, who before hiring has virtually no knowledge about the work. In comparison, it only takes around six months to train a Chinese worker who has had an occupational education.

Even so, Dong said CNPC is willing to localize its workforce as much as possible to reduce the need to send Chinese workers there.

Hassane said another misperception is that Chinese companies are unwilling to give important positions to local people.

"At first, the work here was demanding and the salary was not as high as that offered by Western companies. For this reason, among the six people who were recruited initially, four soon left," Hassane said.

For Hassane, the position CNPC first offered of assistant engineer was a bit frustrating. He thought his oil engineering college degree could earn him a job as an engineer. But he stayed anyway. Three months later, he was promoted to become an engineer.

"I think the Chinese way of doing things is different from others. They value work experience and performance over what you learned in college," Hassane said.

Hassane is one of more than 600 local people directly hired by CNPC's company in Niger. Before CNPC arrived, oil major graduates like Hassane had to work far from home in neighboring Nigeria's oil companies. Now, thousands of other jobs have been created, in transportation, wellsite construction and security, thanks to CNPC's project.

Farid Mohadi, a Nigerian who had worked for two oil companies in Nigeria before he came to work for CNPC in Niger, said he was impressed by the fact that African workers were more respected in Niger.

"The Chinese are humble. They don't assume they are right and lecture us what to do," he said.

Chad's project

Niger is only one of several projects that CNPC has invested in recent years in Africa, a continent that is believed to have 8 percent of the world's oil reserves.

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