The applications are in for this year’s AAPG-AAPG Foundation Imperial Barrel Award (IBA) competition – the world’s premiere geoscience contest for graduate students around the world.
There will be 134 schools competing for the top prize this year – the largest number of competitors in the program’s illustrious and growing history.
The IBA program is a global basin evaluation competition that taps students’ knowledge and skills for creative thought in exploration scenarios, using real-world datasets.
It tests the teams’ collective knowledge in geology, geophysics and other geoscience disciplines as they determine the hydrocarbon potential found in the dataset.
To capture the top prize, teams from around the world compete in an eight-week process that includes Region and Section semi-final contests and then culminates in a finals competition at the AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, set April 6-9 in Houston.
The winning team receives the Imperial Barrel Award, individual medals plus $20,000 for the school’s geoscience department.
Second place winners receive the Selley Cup, individual medals and $10,000 for their school, and third place winners receive the Stoneley Medal, individual medals and $5,000 for their school.
The remaining finalist teams earn $1,000 in scholarship funds for their schools plus individual medals for themselves as IBA finals participants.
The IBA and the other awards are presented in a colorful ceremony that’s held immediately before the opening session at the AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, emceed by IBA Committee co-chairs David Cook and Chuck Caughey.
Last year a total of 107 teams from 30 countries, involving at least 535 students, competed in the program.
Since its adoption by AAPG and the AAPG Foundation, the IBA has awarded more than $300,000 in scholarship funds.
The IBA awards presentation will be held immediately before the opening session at the AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition.
The 133 schools that will be competing this year are:
Africa Region
The field will be narrowed at the Africa Region Final on Feb. 28 at a venue to be decided.
- Enugu State University
- University of the Western Cape South Africa
- University of Nigeria
- Faculty of Sciences of Tunis
- Federal University of Technology Owerri
- Makerere University
- Federal University of Technology Akure
- University of Lagos
- Nnamdi Azikiwe University
- University of Benin
- University of Ibadan
- Benha University
- Ecole Nationale d’Ingenieurs de Sfax
- Al Azhar University
- Helwan University
- Ain Shams University
- University of Port Harcourt
- Suez University
- Cairo University
- El Minia University
- Faculty of Science Damanhour University
- Alexandria University
Asia Pacific Region
The Asia Pacific Region final will be online.
- Curtin University, Department of Applied Geology
- Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
- University of Delhi
- Brawijaya University
- China University of Petroleum
- University of Adelaide
- Indian School of Mines
- University of Indonesia
- Institut Teknologi Bandung
- China University of Petroleum, Beijing
- Padjadjaran University
- Peking University
Canada Region
The Canada Region final will be March 7 at a venue and city to be determined.
- Dalhousie University
- University of Calgary
- McMaster University
- University of Alberta
- Memorial University of Newfoundland
Eastern Section
The Eastern Section final date and location are yet to be determined.
- University of Kentucky
- West Virginia University
- Indiana University
- Penn State University
- Boston College
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
- University of South Carolina
- Kent State University
Europe Region
The Europe Region final will be March 6-8 at a venue and city to be determined.
- University of Stavanger
- University of Manchester School of Earth Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences
- National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv
- Utrecht University
- University of Coimbra
- Institut Polytechnique LaSalle Beauvais
- University of Southampton
- Royal Holloway University of London
- Lomonosov Moscow State University
- Lisbon University
- Ecole Nationale Superieure de Geologie
- IFP School
- University of Aberdeen
- Heriot-Watt University
- Delft University of Technology
- University of Bucharest
- Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan
- University of Leoben
- VU University Amsterdam
- University of Zagreb
- Gubkin Russian State University
- University College Dublin School of Geological Sciences
- Novosibirsk State University
- Eotvos Lorand University
- Ivano Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil & Gas
Gulf Coast Section
The Gulf Coast Section final will be March 20-21 at SLB Information Solutions Theater in Houston.
- The University of Texas at Austin
- University of Louisiana at Lafayette
- University of Alabama
- University of Houston
- Texas A&M University
- Mississippi State University
- Tulane University
- University of Texas – San Antonio
- Rice University
- Louisiana State University
- Stephen F. Austin State University
- Auburn University
- University of New Orleans
Latin America Region
The Latin America Region final date and location are yet to be determined.
- Federal University of Sergipe
- Universidad Industrial de Santander
- National University of San Marcos
- Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia
- National University of Columbia
- Universidad de Buenos Aires
- National University of Colombia-Medellin (Unalmed)
- EAFIT University
- University of the State of Rio de Janeiro UERJ
- Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria
- Universidade Federal Fluminense
- The University of the West Indies
- University of La Plata
- Universidad Simon Bolivar
- National Autonomous University of Mexico
- Universidad Central de Venezuela
Mid-Continent Section
The Mid-Continent Section final will be March 8 in Oklahoma City.
- University of Kansas
- Kansas State University
- Oklahoma State University
- University of Arkansas
- University of Tulsa
- University of Oklahoma
- Wichita State University
- Missouri University of Science and Technology
Middle East Region
The Middle East Region final will be March 8 at GEO 2014 in Manama, Bahrain.
- United Arab Emirates University
- King Saud University
- Tikrit University
- King Abdulaziz University
- Kuwait University
- Sultan Qaboos University
- King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals
Pacific Section
The Pacific Section final will be March 21 at Aera Energy in Bakersfield, Calif.
- California State University, Long Beach
- San Diego State University
- California State University, Bakersfield
- University of Alaska Fairbanks
- University of California
- California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Rocky Mountain Section
The Rocky Mountain Section final will be March 1 at the GEM program facility at the University of Colorado-Denver.
- University of Wyoming
- Colorado School of Mines
- Brigham Young University
- Montana State University
- University of Utah
- New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
- Utah State University
Southwest Section
The Southwest Section final date and location are yet to be determined.
- Texas Christian University
- University of Texas at El Paso
- University of Texas at Arlington
- University of Texas-Dallas