Congratulations to a team of five students from Applied Geology and Exploration Geophysics, who have won the Asia-Pacific regional heat of the International Barrel Award competition organised by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
The Curtin team – comprised of students Rachael Wood, Gareth O’Neill, Jacob Jackson, Alexander Mangl and Jake Hammelswang – competed against 15 other teams from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia and Australia to win the regional heat.
Since early January, the students were tasked with determining the hydrocarbon potential of the Norwegian area of the North Sea and identifying prospects for drilling using real oil industry data. They had to undertake all tasks that geologists and geophysicists would typically perform in an oil company exploratory team.
In early March, the team then had to persuade a panel of judges made up of senior oil company representatives about their recommendations for drilling, based on a technical and business case.
The team from Curtin University will now represent the Asia-Pacific Region at the international finals, which will be held at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) annual convention in Denver in May. They will be up against teams from Europe, Africa, South America, the Middle East and several regions of North America.
We wish them luck and further success for the finals.
