The winning team from the Asia Pacific region – the China School of Petroleum in Beijing – was flown to New Orleans to compete against the winners of the other regions. They made their presentation in front of the International panel of Judges and while they did not emerge in the top three, the experience they gained was wonderful. They got to meet other teams, Judges and many other industry specialists at the AAPG Annual Convention, 2010. We congratulate them again, and look forward to 2011 where we hope to have many more teams participating.

The winning team for the 2010 AAPG Imperial Barrel Award came from the Institut Francaise du Petrole (France), who won the top prize of US$20,000. (See photo). Second place went to the team from the University of Calgary, Canada, who won US$10,000. The King Fahd University, representing the Middle East Region came in third, winning US$5,000.

The remaining nine finalists each earned $1,000 in scholarship funds for their respective schools plus individual medals for themselves as IBA finals participants. The finals teams were (alphabetical order):

• Africa Region – Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
• Asia-Pacific Region – China University of Petroleum, Beijing.
• Latin America – EAFIT University, School of Geology, Medellin, Colombia.
• Eastern Section – West Virginia University, Morgantown, W.Va.
• Gulf Coast Section – University of Louisiana-Lafayette.
• Mid-Continent Section – Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Okla.
• Pacific Section – San Diego State University, San Diego.
• Rocky Mountain Section – Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colo.
• Southwest Section – University of Texas-El Paso.

The IBA program gives teams of students the chance to evaluate the petroleum potential of a sedimentary basin and to test their creative geological interpretations. Their work must be completed in a six-to-eight week period, with results presented to – and judged by – an independent panel of petroleum industry experts.

A total of 57 teams from 18 countries competed in this year’s IBA program.

Past IBA winners were teams from:

• 2009 – Moscow (Russia) State University, Moscow, Russia.
• 2008 – The University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.
• 2007 – The University of Aberdeen, Scotland.

For more information on the IBA program go online to www.aapg.org/iba