In the first Imperial Barrel Award (IBA) student competition that was held at the AAPG Convention in Long Beach, the University of Aberdeen (Scotland) won first place, which netted the team $20,000 in scholarship funds, a trophy and individual medals.
Imperial College in London has been offering the prestigious Barrel Award for the past 30 years. This year AAPG offered the competition and awards at the annual convention as the Imperial Barrel Award.
Imperial College (Selley Cup)
Nine universities from around the world offering master’s-level degrees in petroleum geosciences were invited to participate in the competition.
The second place team was Imperial College, winning the Selley Cup, which provides $10,000 in scholarship funds, a trophy and team medals.
The University of Oklahoma was the third place team and won the Stoneley Medal, which provides $5,000, a trophy and team medals.
University of Oklahoma (Stoneley Medal)
The group competition is a global exploration geosciences project focused on the assessment of the petroleum potential of a basin. Teams were provided a complete data set and had a few weeks to complete a technical assessment of the basin’s petroleum plays and prospects.
On the Friday prior to the convention, teams gave a 25-minute presentation of their work, made recommendations for future activity and faced 10 minutes of questioning by judges. A panel of industry experts judged the technical work and presentations and provided written evaluations for the students.
“IBA provides a unique opportunity for students to gain valuable experience by participating in an exploration evaluation, presenting to a panel of senior industry experts and competing to win scholarship funding,” said Steve Veal, director of the AAPG European Region office in London.
Mike Mlynek, AAPG student coordinator, said seven universities participated in the inaugural year of the AAPG competition. Other competitors were the University of Houston, Gubkin Russian State University, University of Wyoming and California State University-Long Beach.
The event’s sponsors were Aera Energy, Schlumberger, Occidental, Wagner & Brown Ltd., ConocoPhillips and AAPG.
Companies and schools interested in participating in next year’s competition should see how it works.
Student Chapters Receive Honors
Student chapters from the University of Oklahoma and the University of Indonesia in Jakarta were honored with Outstanding Student Chapter Awards during the annual convention in Long Beach.
For the tenth year, program sponsor Schlumberger presented two $1,000 scholarships to the schools in recognition of their honor – OU being the outstanding U.S.-based student chapter, and the University of Indonesia as the outstanding international chapter.
Awards are presented yearly at the AAPG Annual Convention. Student chapter requirements for selection of awards are maintenance of student AAPG memberships, active AAPG faculty sponsor and participation in Earth Science Week, field trips, meetings and special community events.
“Schlumberger is committed to working with universities who continue to excel with their geological programs,” said Rod Nelson, vice president of innovation and collaboration for Schlumberger, as he made the award presentation. “We are pleased to support AAPG with its student development programs, for these students will one day be a valuable part of our oil and gas industry.”