The AAPG Imperial Barrel Award Program, commonly known as the IBA, provides a unique opportunity for teams of students from universities around the world to analyze real geologic, geophysical, land, economic and production data in a real-world scenario.
AAPG's Latin America and Caribbean Region (LACR) has a two-phased competition, a virtual round with all teams and an in-person semifinal round with the top finishers from the virtual round.
The semifinal winners earn the right to represent the Region in the IBA Global Finals, which this year will be held at prior to the AAPG Annual Convention in Houston, Texas, on April 1.
This year, 15 teams from seven countries participated of the virtual round held via WebEx on December 2.
Teams included:
- Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristovão — Brazil
- Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói — Brazil
- Universidad de Caldas, Caldas — Colombia
- Universidad de los Andes, Bogota — Colombia
- Universidad de Pamplona, Pamplona — Colombia
- Universidad Industrial De Santander, Bucaramanga — Colombia
- Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota — Colombia
- Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, Sogamoso — Colombia
- Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral, Guayaquil — Ecuador
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City — Mexico
- Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Lima — Peru
- Universidad Nacional de San Agustín, Arequipa — Peru
- University of the West Indies, St. Augustine — Trinidad & Tobago
- Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas — Venezuela
- Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas — Venezuela
Each team made a 25-minute presentation then answered questions from a panel of industry professionals who judged their work.
Virtual round judges included:
- Igor Viegas, Petrobras, Brazil
- Elvira Gomez, Nexxen, Colombia
- Luis Carlos Vaillard, Consultant, Argentina
- Dan Pratt, Consultant, USA
After careful deliberations, the virtual round judges selected the following teams to advance to the Region semifinals:
- Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia
- Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
- University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
The semifinal round will be held at BHP Billiton Offices in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on Friday, January 27. Holding the semifinal competition in Port of Spain will be especially meaningful considering the fact that we have a team from Trinidad & Tobago participating.
Individuals attending include five students and one faculty advisor for each competing team, IBA coordinators Mayra Vargas and Emily Smith Llinás Bogotá, Colombia and AAPG LACR Treasurer Xavier Moonan of Port of Spain.
The four judges that have the important and difficult job of deciding which team will represent the Region at the global finals in in Houston are:
- Vishal Nagassar, BHP Billiton
- Jarret Pierce, BHP Billiton
- Claire Hobday, EOG Resources
- Peter Goddard, Shell
Semifinal participation is made possible through the generous sponsorship of Chevron, Shell and the Mexican Association of Petroleum Geologists (AMGP) and BHP Billiton.
We thank our sponsors for supporting the event and BHP Billiton staff in Port of Spain for hosting the competition at their facility.
The LACR IBA Coordinators wish all participants good luck and a great competition.