AAPG members in Caracas celebrated for the second year in a row when students from the Universidad Central de Venezuela won the Latin America and Caribbean Region 2016 IBA finals on 29 April.
The 2015 winners represented neighboring school Universidad Simón Bolívar.
The 2016 semifinal participants included Universidad Simón Bolíviar and Universidad Central de Venezuela, both from Caracas, Venezuela; Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, from Lima, Peru; and University of the West Indies, from St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago.
The four universities advanced to the semifinals after receiving the highest scores in the virtual round, held via WebEx on 1 April. The virtual round included 20 teams from eight countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
The semifinals were held in Bogotá, Colombia at the headquarters of Colombia’s national oil company, Ecopetrol. Each team presented for 25 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of questions and answers from a panel of judges working in the energy industry.
Judges included Geologist Luz Marina Duarte and Geophysicist Antonio Velasquez of Ecopetrol and Geologist Mauricio Cediel and Engineer William Peña of Chevron.
The judges provided feedback to teams following the presentations and took careful notes throughout the competition. After reviewing both scoring sheets and overall feedback, they unanimously awarded the Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV) first place and Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM) second place.
After the morning presentations, teams and judges enjoyed a typical Colombian lunch and a view of Bogotá at Céntrico restaurant, on the 41st foor of the San Martin tower. In the afternoon, AAPG Visiting Geoscientist and Ecopetrol’s QI Team Leader Antonio Velasquez delivered an interactive presentation on quantitative seismic interpretation and rock physics in Ecopetrol’s CEDEX (Center of Exploratory Decisions) room.
Several employees from Ecopetrol mingled with participants at the closing reception and awards ceremony held at the Hotel ExpoSuites in the evening. Immediate Past President Victor Ramirez gave a brief talk to participants and awarded plaques and medals to the winning teams.
Participants finished the day with a night time city bus tour, which took them around Bogotá and include stops in several historic and tourist areas of the city.
UCV team members Karol Ruiz, Ehimar Rueda, Sebastian Celis, Jesus Monsalve and Carlos Sanchez and advisor Enrique Toribio will travel to Calgary, Canada to represent the Region the Global IBA Finals held on 17-18 June 2016. They are also invited to attend the AAPG Annual Conference & Exhibition immediately following the competition.
The AAPG Latin America and Caribbean Region wishes UCV the best of luck and congratulates all teams for their hard work and dedication throughout the competition.