Month: March 2017

ASEC 2017 in Zagreb

The prestigious event has established its reputation as a yearly meeting, joining the student chapters from different technical universities to address the current status of the oil and gas industry as well as the technological novelties in the domain. Our Montanuniveristät Leoben SPE Student Chapter had the opportunity to be represented in the event.

During the opening ceremony, several notable personalities from the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the city of Zagreb, the University of Zagreb and the sponsoring companies held speeches to welcome the attendees to the conference insisting on the importance of such technical events.

A panel session followed titled “Future of Petroleum Industry: New Solutions to Old Challenges “ featuring a diverse group of experts representing the Croatian government as well as a number of different companies. The discussion covered a broad range of topics as the technological advances that became essential in this new age of efficiency, the current status of the oil price and the unconventional oil and gas resources. The panel focused on the importance of the new generation of petroleum engineers and their need to deal with the new uprising challenges in the industry with keeping a flexible approach to their career choices.

1161
Panel Discussion: Moderator Daria Karasalihović Sedlar, Riverson Oppong, Mathias Meister, Dejan Ljuština, Jerko Jelić Balta, Davor Štern (from left to right)

After a short break, a series of presentations was carried on by of HEP Gas Supply ltd, Plinacoro and INA.

During the afternoon session, a presentation was held by Prvo Plinarsko drustvo on the topic of gas prices and their determining factors followed by another presentation as a part of the paper contest.

On the second day, the conference started with a presentation by Mr Dragutin Domitrovic representing MB Geothermal d.o.o. on “Turkish Experiences in Using Geothermal Resources for Electricity Generation”. The presentations carried on throughout the day from both the students as a part of the paper contest and from professionals from different companies such as Baker Hughes, ENI and Schlumberger.

The day was finalized with a soft skills workshop held by MR Danijel Dadovic from the Student Support and Career Development Center and Ms Ana Boric from INA HR department.

On the third day of the conference, the rest of the presentations from the paper contest were held featuring our fellows from the Montanuniversitaet Leoben SPE Student Chapter, Florian Gamperl with a presentation on “Wellbore Quality – Impacts and Assessment Methods” and Mohamed Amine Ouarda on “Gas Storage in Salt Domes”. A Poster Session and a PetroTournament were also held throughout the day.

Representatives Mohamed Amine Ouarda and Florian Gamperl during their presentations
Representatives Mohamed Amine Ouarda and Florian Gamperl during their presentations

During the closing ceremony, the winners of the paper contest, the petrotournament and the poster contest were announced with our fellow Mohamed Amine Ouarda being tied for the second place for his presentation.

However, the conference program did not end after the closing ceremony. The Zagreb SPE Student Chapter still offered a field trip to the offshore drilling rig “Labin” which is currently in the harbor of Pula. After a bus ride through the picturesque mountains of Croatia the bus arrived in Pula, where the jack-up rig was immediately visible.

After getting our safety equipment, we were shown around the rig, getting to see not only the rig floor, mud pits and blowout preventer, but also the crew’s resting area. After this exciting excursion, we had a final traditional Croatian dinner on our way back home to Zagreb, where we unfortunately had to depart the next day.

We would like to thank the SPE Zagreb Team for these unforgettable days of networking, discussing and exploring new technologies and horizons! Looking forward to see you again next year!

Soft skills to facilitate success in the current economic crisis

Once again the workshop was held by Lori and Dwyann Dalrymple from Architecture of Communication. They are running their own company, which is specialised in teaching industry professionals and students how to utilise soft skills in the work life.

The workshop started Friday in the morning with a fun exercise. Everybody had to take a shoe off and put it in front of the white board. Then each participant had to pick a shoe which didnt belong to him and talk to the owner of the shoe. Then he had to introduce this person to the rest of the participants. Afterwards Lori talked about the importance of critial thinking and how it can influence our behaviour in the daily life. It is an important skill because it influences our decision making process. Another interesting topic which was covered, was the difference between vertical and lateral thinking. Vertical thinking means that coming up with a solution for a certain problem or task. Compared to that lateral thinking is totally different and it is mostly used by creative persons. It is not a structured process and it means that you come up with several ideas and new paths during the process of solving a specific problem or task.

After lunch it was time to adress the topic “The power of appearance”. People form an opinion about you during the first sixty seconds they meet you. This is especially important during an interview situation. Therefore you should always be the best version of yourself. The day was concluded with short presentations where each particpant had to state two facts about their life which are true and one lie. Afterwards the other participants had to find out which of the three statements was the lie based on the performance of the presenter.

On the second day of the workshop the participants learned how to create a personal brand. The personal brand is something which seperates an individual from the rest. The creation of a personal brand starts with the CV. Basically all the students who finish university start with the same technical background. Therefore you have to highlight what makes you special, such as volunteerism, special skills and if possible your record about writing papers. After that you have to think about your performance in an interview. You should never be underdressed and it is appropriate for an interview to show up in a suit and tie. Furthermore your overall appearance should be confident but not arrogant and pay attention to cultural differences. What might be appropriate for an interview in Austria does not necessarily apply to any other country.

After lunch the focus was on the so called SWOT analysis. Theses letters stand for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. By doing that you can quickly find out which strengths you already have and where you have to improve. Opportunities represent what you can do to enhance your chances of acomplishing a goal. And you have to think about threats which could possibly lead to trouble on your way to acomplish that goal. Finally in the last session of the workshop the partcipants learned about SMART goals. Goals should always be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time bound. If you set goals based on this technique you are more likely to succeed.

Group Picture with Lori and Dwyann

During the whole workshop Lori and Dwyann encouraged the participants to use their skills in different exercises. For example in one of the exercises the participants had to form teams. Afterwards they had to build a tower made out of paper without using any items such as glue or a scissor. The team with the higher tower won the competition. It was a simple exercise but it required the application of several skills such as leadership, time management, critical thinking and communication.

In the end the Montanuniversitaet Leoben SPE Student Chapter would like to thank Lori and Dwyann very much for their time and effort to make this workshop possible. Once again it was a great pleasure for us to learn from your experience, expertise and knowledge. Furthermore we would like to thank the SPE Vienna Basin Section for their financial contribution to make this workshop possible. We really appreciate this generous support.

If you want to have further infomation about Lori and Dwyanns expertise and their company please follow the link to their homepage:

http://arofcom.com/aocskills/