Job Title: Head of Production Department
Organisation: China National Offshore Oil Corporation
Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda
About Organisation:
CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corporation) is China’s largest offshore oil and gas producer and the third-largest national oil company in the country. Headquartered in Beijing, it operates globally in regions including Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas.
Job Summary: Provide strategic and operational leadership for the Production Department, ensuring safe, reliable, compliant, and cost-effective oil and gas production operations, field development execution, production optimization, asset integrity, national talent development, and readiness for the Company’s transition into full operations.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
- Lead the planning, execution and continuous optimization of production operations, ensuring delivery of approved field development plans, production targets, reservoir management objectives and facility performance standards.
- Provide overall leadership of the Production Department, including departmental strategy, structure, manpower planning, performance management, resource allocation and cross-functional coordination with Subsurface, Drilling, Engineering, QHSE, Commercial, Procurement and Finance teams.
- Develop, defend and execute annual work programs, production plans and CAPEX/OPEX budgets, while monitoring cost performance, contract utilization, production efficiency and opportunities for cost optimization.
- Ensure all production, development and field operations comply with applicable laws, petroleum regulations, approved standards, permits, internal procedures, partner commitments and regulatory reporting requirements.
- Oversee production facilities readiness, commissioning support, start-up, operations reliability, maintenance coordination, asset integrity and emergency response preparedness to ensure safe and uninterrupted operations.
- Strengthen interfaces with Government authorities, regulators, Joint Venture partners, contractors and internal stakeholders to secure alignment on production plans, operational performance, approvals, reporting and issue resolution.
- Monitor daily production operations and key field events, escalate material issues to Management, lead incident/emergency response within the department and ensure timely implementation of corrective and preventive actions.
- Drive nationalization, knowledge transfer and capability development by implementing structured training, coaching, succession planning and career development programs for national engineers, supervisors and specialists.
- Promote continuous improvement, digitalization and adoption of fit-for-purpose technologies to enhance production efficiency, safety performance, data quality, environmental performance and long-term asset value.
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
- Bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Automation, Production Operations or other relevant Oil & Gas discipline.
- A postgraduate qualification is an added advantage.
- At least 15 years’ experience in the Oil & Gas industry, including at least 5 years in field/on-site production operations and demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary technical or operations teams.
Knowledge:
- Strong understanding of field development, production operations, reservoir management, production engineering, surface facilities, economic analysis, HSE management, petroleum laws/regulations and international oilfield practices.
- Strategic leadership and operational decision-making in complex field environments.
- Excellent planning, analytical, negotiation, stakeholder management and communication skills.
- Strong commitment to HSE leadership, compliance, ethics and operational discipline.
- Ability to lead multicultural teams, develop national talent and build high-performance work practices.
- High achievement orientation, resilience, accountability and sound judgment under pressure.
- Excellent command of written and spoken English.
How to Apply:
All suitably qualified and Interested applicants should apply online at the link below.
Deadline: 17th June 2026
NB: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
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Level of Education: bachelor degree
Work Hours: 8
Experience in Months: 180