Visiting Oil and Gas Horizons 2015

This year the seventh Oil and Gas Horizons Congress (24.Nov 2015-26.Nov 2015) took place at Moscow’s Gubkin Russian State Oil & Gas University. The congress is entirely organized by the local SPE Student Chapter and it is the largest international youth scientific and practical event in the oil and gas industry of the Russian and Caspian region. The Office Manager of the SPE Student Chapter Leoben, Daniel Hirschl, went there as a representative. The following is the whole story about his visit.

22.November 2015

On the 22nd of November at 10:00 Austrian Airlines flight OS601 departed from the Vienna International Airport heading towards Moscow, with me on this plane. After 2 hours and 30 minutes the plane touched down at the Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow.

There I was welcomed by my two guides who brought me and another student to the dormitory. We took the famous Moscow Metro to go there, so I already got a glimpse of what to expect from this wonderful city. After arriving and making ourselves comfortable in our rooms we were guided to the city center of Moscow to see a lot of the historic sites, such as Red Square and of course the Kremlin. After dinner we finished our journey with the beautiful view of the Moscow city Skyscrapers.

23.November 2015

On Monday the main cultural program took place. This already showed what to expect from the congress. Students from different countries were guided by volunteers through the city. So already on the second day some new friendships were established with other students.

The journey brought us to the St. Basils cathedral, the Kremlin, the famous shopping mall GUM, the Cathedral of Christ the savior and finally we got to see the Moscow City skyscrapers again. The day was concluded by a team building event in the dormitory where students showed their skills by playing charades.

Moscow City

24.November 2015

On Tuesday the congress started. After some good breakfast in the early morning a bus brought us to the university. After the registration the opening ceremony was held. All the participants were welcomed at the congress by representatives of the university and the local student chapter. The next part was the plenary session. Experts gave some insights on special topics e.g. “New paradigm of the Oil and Gas development”. In this presentation smart technologies for the development of hydrocarbon fields were introduced to the students. In the afternoon the student paper contest took place. In different sessions (e.g. Automation and Computer Sciences, Oil and Gas Chemistry and Ecology, Geosciences, Drilling and Completion) students presented their personal work. The day was concluded with a dinner that gave an impression of the Russian cuisine.OGH 2015

25.November 2015

The second day of the congress started with the presentations of the different SPE Student Chapters. All the chapters showed how much effort they put in all of their work and how they stay motivated. One of the highlights was when the delegation from the Ufa State Petroleum Technological University performed the song “Wavin Flag”.

It was a unique moment when all the people in the room started to join their performance.  In the afternoon the PetroOlympic Games took place. In this special contest teams of six students have to solve some complex tasks and answer questions related to the Petroleum Industry. The two best teams are then competing against each other in a debate. Our multicultural team that had the profound name “AGGRRR” was able to participate in the debate. The team name was based on the nationalities of the team members (Austria, Germany, Germany, Russia, Russia, and Russia). This also provided me with the unique experience of participating in a team debate. The topic of debating was “Preservation of natural resources for the future than using them today”. Our team had to negate the topic. We managed to find a good way to express our view on the topic and finally we won the PetroOlympic games.12314451_926336574103268_6141122079611786833_o

Afterwards the SPE Student Chapters Round-Table provided the unique opportunity of discussing actual topics with leaders from other Student Chapters and how to manage the upcoming challenges together.

The congress was then concluded by a wonderful closing ceremony where all the winners were announced and it also showed the creativity of the students from the Gubkin Russian State Oil & Gas University. Some marvellous songs were combined with great dances. Finally the day was closed by a youth party where all the participants had the opportunity to celebrate together with members of the organizing committee.

26.November 2015

The last day was reserved for visiting companies. Together with some other students, I went to the office of Halliburton in Moscow. They gave us a presentation about their company and how is it structured. Afterwards we heard a presentation about Halliburtons famous Landmark software. In the end they also told us about career chances in Halliburton. The size of the company allows people to work in different disciplines all around the globe. The afternoon was free for everybody. Therefore we joined a big group of students and went ice skating in the famous Gorky Park. Afterwards we used the unique atmosphere of the Moscow area for some evening activities.

Gorky Park

27.November 2015

Finally on the last day of my visit here in Moscow I was brought to the airport and left with new friendships, experiences and a smile on my face.

I would like to thank the SPE-Student Chapter of Gubkin University for the invitation. It was such a pleasure to be able to participate in such an amazing event. The unique atmosphere could be felt in every corner of the congress. It really broadened my personal horizon, not only from a technical but also from a general point of view, because events like that prove that borders are just lines on a map.