Patience Oghogho Maseli is a former Deputy Director of the Upstream Division at the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), a position from which she retired in November 2018. She is the first woman to hold that position. She was the head of the first steering committee of Women in Geosciences and Engineering (WiGE). She christened a

Drillship A drillship is a merchant vessel designed for use in exploratory offshore drilling of new oil and gas wells or for scientific drilling purposes. In recent years the vessels have been used in deepwater and ultra-deepwater applications, equipped ...

''West Capella'' in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

on which her name is inscribed.

Early life and education

Pat Maseli started her education at St. Maria Goretti Girls Secondary School,

Benin City Benin City serves as the Capital city, capital and largest Metropolitan area, metropolitan centre of Edo State, situated in Nigeria, southern Nigeria. It ranks as the List of Nigerian cities by population, fourth-most populous city in Niger ...

Edo State Edo State, Edo, officially known as Edo State, is a States of Nigeria, state in the South South, South-South Geopolitical zones of Nigeria, geopolitical zone of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As of 2024, the state was ranked as the List of Ni ...

after which she proceeded for her

A Level The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

at Federal Government College,

Warri The city of Warri is an oil hub within South-South Nigeria and houses an annex of the Delta State Government House. Warri City is one of the major hubs of the petroleum industry in Nigeria. Warri, Udu, Okpe and Uvwie are the commercial ...

Delta State Delta is a States of Nigeria, state in the South South (Nigeria), South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Named after the Niger Delta—a large part of which is in the state—the state was formed from the former Bendel State, on 27 August 1 ...

. She then proceeded to the University of Benin for her tertiary education and graduated with a BSc in

Botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

. She also graduated with a

M.Sc A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...

degree in

Petroleum geology Petroleum geology is the study of the origins, occurrence, movement, accumulation, and exploration of hydrocarbon fuels. It refers to the specific set of geological disciplines that are applied to the search for hydrocarbons ( oil exploration). ...

from the

University of Port Harcourt The University of Port Harcourt is a public research university located in Aluu and Choba, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. It was established in 1975 as University College, Port Harcourt and was given university status in 1977. The Univ ...

Rivers State Rivers is a states of Nigeria, state in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria (Old Eastern Region). Formed on 27 May 1967, when it was split from the former Eastern Region, Nigeria, Eastern Region, Rivers State borders include Imo State, Im ...

Career

After her graduation from the University of Benin in 1982, Patience Maseli was deployed to Rivers State for the mandatory National Youth Service Programme of the

National Youth Service Corps The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is a mandatory, post-tertiary scheme set up by the Nigerian government during the military regime of Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, to "reconstruct, reconcile and rebuild the country after the Nigerian ...

. She was posted to the Research and Development Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) where she worked as a

palynologist Palynology is the study of microorganisms and microscopic fragments of mega-organisms that are composed of acid-resistant organic material and occur in sediments, sedimentary rocks, and even some metasedimentary rocks. Palynomorphs are the mic ...

within the geology laboratory. She gained full employment into the

NNPC The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is a state-owned oil company in Nigeria. Still a fully-owned government company, it was transformed from a corporation into a limited liability company in July 2022. NNPC Limited is the o ...

in 1983 and was deployed to the Petroleum Inspectorate Division (now known as the

Department of Petroleum Resources Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, formerly the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), is a department under the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources (FMPR). It monitors the oil and gas industry to ensure compliance ...

) as a Petrophysicist. She was promoted to the position of Senior Geologist in 1992, Chief Geologist in 2003, Assistant Director in 2006 and finally to the position of Deputy Director and Head of Upstream Division in 2017. She retired in November 2018 when she attained the mandatory retirement age of 60 years.

Personal life

Patience Maseli is from Ibrede community in Ndokwa East Local Government Area of Delta State. Although Ibrede is in Ndokwa East, she is an Isoko woman by tribe. She is a Christian. She is married with children and her wedding ceremony was conducted by Archbishop Benson Idahosa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maseli, Patience Living people People from Delta State University of Benin (Nigeria) alumni University of Port Harcourt alumni Year of birth missing (living people)