The AAPG Imperial Barrel Award competition has gone from strength to strength since its inception at the 2007 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition (ACE) in Long Beach, Calif., when seven invited teams from the United States, UK and Russia took part.
In 2012, once again at an ACE held in Long Beach, 100 teams from 33 countries competed, and the team from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette won first place at the global final.
First and foremost the IBA is an educational program – which in 2012 involved in excess of 500 students worldwide – providing petroleum geoscience training in many universities that ordinarily would not have access to it.
As the IBA Mission Statement says:
“The IBA is an educational program in which graduate geoscience students experience the work of a team of explorationists evaluating geological and geophysical data within a simulated corporate environment.”
Furthermore, the program provides students with an insight into the hydrocarbon exploration business and networking opportunities with senior professionals and managers. Many of the IBA participants are now pursuing careers in the industry – and having participated in the IBA is considered to be an important addition to a student’s curriculum vitae.
The 2012 competition cost approximately $750,000 and was supported by many corporate sponsors, the AAPG and the AAPG Foundation.
Students and Faculty Advisers
For those who want to participate in the 2013 IBA, now is the time to organize your teams and familiarize yourselves with the information on the IBA website – and in particular, the IBA Rules and Operating Procedures.
And mark this key date: The application deadline is Dec. 14.
Some AAPG Regions and Sections, for financial and logistical reasons, might have to limit the number of teams taking part in the competition, so it will be first come first served.
Please be sure that you have the hardware in place to conduct geophysical and geological interpretation and, if necessary, apply for software.
If you have any questions please contact the relevant person listed on the website or your Region/Section IBA coordinator.
Companies
AAPG would be unable to run this important educational program without the financial support of our industry sponsors.
If your company has not previously sponsored the IBA, please seriously consider doing so this year. Visit the website for details of how to sponsor, sponsorship levels and rewards.
Additionally if you have a well and seismic dataset that is suitable for an exploration project – and that you are willing to donate to the program – please contact either Charlotte Hamilton or Dave Cook through the contacts listed on the website.
Finally, a big thank you to the many companies that have provided financial support, datasets, judges and mentors to the IBA program over the past five years. You have significantly enhanced the educational experience of numerous students – and opened their eyes to what a career in our industry has to offer.