A team of students from the University of Aberdeen have taken first prize at the prestigious Imperial Barrel Competition held at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Convention, in Long Beach, California.
Universities from around the world, offering masters-level degrees in petroleum geoscience, were invited to participate in the competition, which is an invitation-only event for the world's foremost petroleum geoscience schools to compete against each other.
The Imperial Barrel Competition 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 against other student teams to win funding.
The five University of Aberdeen MSc students in Integrated Petroleum Geoscience beat off stiff competition from around the world to clinch winning glory and claim first prize – the sum of $20,000.
The successful team comprised Helen Cromie, Andrew Green, Charlie Hamilton, Ian Rodwell and Ian Wilson.
Professor David Macdonald, Professor of Petroleum Geology and Head of the School of Geosciences at the University of Aberdeen, was delighted to learn of the team's achievement. He said: "I would like to congratulate the five students on behalf of the University of Aberdeen, and I would like to extend my personal congratulations to them.
"This is the first time the award has been run competitively between a number of international universities. Unlike some of the other teams, our winning students prepared for the competition during their spare time – in the evenings and at weekends in addition to attending lectures, assignments, revision and exams – an extraordinary achievement. They did the University of Aberdeen proud and handled themselves with an impressive level of dignity and professionalism.
"I would also like to extend my gratitude to thank Drs Anne Schwab and Liam Herringshaw who mentored the team in the run-up to the competition. They are all a credit to the University of Aberdeen."
Ian Wilson is delighted with the team's accolade and on behalf of the team he said: "The Imperial Barrel Award proved to be an amazing and unique opportunity to experience the challenges of completing an entire exploration project from start to finish.
"The project drew upon all areas of the University of Aberdeen's taught MSc course and proved to be a valuable experience in learning how to integrate data sets to solve problems and achieve project objectives. The project was also an excellent opportunity to develop teamwork, presentation and time management skills.
"In addition to the benefits of participating in the project, it brought with it one further incentive - the chance to participate in, and experience an international AAPG conference, something I would strongly recommend to any student not to be missed. The variety of people attending the conference makes it an excellent and valuable place to be in terms of networking. The conference vibrantly highlights the immense diversity of the oil industry as well as its dynamic nature, and the positive atmosphere surrounding the conference left those attending energised and optimistic."
The winning prize of US $20,000 will provide support for students. Second and third prizes were won by teams from Imperial College, London and the University of Oklahoma.