Arriving in Almaty, I almost immediately fell asleep after having been traveling for more than 12 hours. Nevertheless, the long travel paid off, as I realized in the next days. On April 14, the conference began with the opening ceremony in which university and company representatives talked about the importance of networking and sharing experience and knowledge, two key points for SPE International. Also, as so often on conferences these days, the industry situation, and especially its implications for the students and fresh graduates, was a topic. Mr Iskhakov of KazNTU emphasized in this context that we should always keep these wise words in our minds: “Even if the whole world seems to be against you, always remember that airplanes always start against the wind!”
Florian defending his research work in the form of a poster
Subsequently, three events took place at the same time: The Petroleum Engineering Congress with the Upstream section of the paper contest, the Oil Games (a quiz competition), and the Job Fair, where the most renowned companies that work in Kazakhstan were represented. After lunch, it was also my own turn in participating in the paper contest, competing against 15 other students in the upstream area, with interesting topics reaching from drilling over reservoir simulation to production and reservoir management. In the evening, we were taken to Kok Tobe, a hill at the city limits, which gave us a stunning view of nightly Almaty. Tired after walking around we took the ropeway back down to the city.
Stunning view of ALmaty, the former Kazakh capital at night
The second (and already final) day started with the semi-final rounds of the Oil Games, as well as the Geology Paper Contest. Afterwards, there were presentations and motivational speeches by young successful people, such as movie directors, photographers or businessmen. They talked about how to achieve success and happiness in life – and they agreed on a surprisingly simple formula: “Do what you enjoy doing, and success and happiness will come to you all by themselves!”
After lunch, the Downstream paper contest session took place while the finalists of the Oil Games fought for the first place, which was ultimately won by three ladies of the Kazakh-British Technical University SEG Chapter, closely followed by the three ladies from Gubkin University.
In the evening, the Petroleum Party took place. In this evening gala, the winners of the paper contest sessions were announced, and I could not believe when I heard that I made third place! Of course, the evening continued on with lots of dancing, talking and taking pictures…
Medeu ski resort in the mountains surrounding Almaty. Skiing is possible until the summer here at nearly 3,000m, and you feel just like in the Austrian Alps!
Sunday morning, I used the little free time I had, going to Medeu in the close by mountains together with colleagues from Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Despite the poor weather conditions in the city, the air at nearly 3,000m above sea level was fresh, but surprisingly warm, and the local ski resort really made me want to stay longer to go skiing!
After all, the two and a half days in Almaty passed very quickly, leaving me with only one wish: having had more time to spend there to explore the city and the its surrounding amazing nature more deeply, as well as enjoying the hospitality of Kazakhstan for longer! All I can say is thank you very much to the organizers for this great event, and for the great time I had in Almaty, as well as to all the great people I met, who all made this a really unforgettable trip! Looking forward to meeting you all again! Рақмет!
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.
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
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!
At first, Mr. Spady got to see our Department of Petroleum Engineering, which he was quite impressed by. Not only was he impressed by the applied research Prof. Hofstätter and his team took the time to introduce him to, but also by our new building and the facilities in general. We also had the pleasure to show him the downstream applications of our beloved petroleum in the Department of Polymer Science, and especially, their lab facilities.
Department tour: Sepp Steinlechner, Ines Smaoui, Darcy Spady, Florian Gamperl, Prof. Herbert Hofstätter, Georg Ripperger (from left to right) in the Production Engineering Master Class
In the evening, Mr. Spady gave a motivational presentation to an audience of about 50 students. He started talking about his personal career which he says is an “example of what not to do”. However – and that is the huge motivating message behind this talk – it also shows that anything is possible, if you are willing to take chance and move out of your comfort zone. For example, he was based in an area with enormous shale layers in a time when “shale was considered garbage. It was something you’d speed up your logging tool”. Yet, he developed some kind of expertise in this area, which was then helpful for his further career.
With shale gas being a very controversial topic, this was an excellent opportunity to move to another subject Mr. Spady is very enthusiastic about, community involvement. Again, he gave an example from his personal career, where he had to drill a well on a university campus, in the middle of a city. Despite public concerns, he and his crew managed to drill the well, and even reduced the public resistance to a minimum by getting them involved, allowing them on site, and explaining what is going on. Darcy Spady says that regaining the public trust is the key to continuing our work in densely populated areas. This may not be the case for many areas of the world, but it sure is an important factor in Central Europe!
As the President Elect of SPE, our organization also had to be mentioned. Showing interest in SPE is something very rewarding. Mr. Spady especially encouraged us to write papers, and go on conferences with them. He also mentioned that we should not be afraid of being made fun of with our research work: If it makes it through the selection process, the paper has to be good! And Mr. Darcy Spady also specifically said that the level of teaching and research is very high at our university, another big encouragement to start spreading our knowledge!
Thomas Gundacker of BP during his presentation
The visit of Darcy Spady coincided with the traditional visit of Thomas Gundacker, a Leoben graduate working with BP. He also gave a brief talk about the world energy outlook, the role of oil and gas in the future. He also pointed out that BP is hiring students for internships and for permanent work despite the crisis. For more, visit www.bp.com/leoben
The evening was concluded with a dinner at Mensa, to which both Mr. Gundacker and Mr. Spady were invited.
We would like to thank everyone who has been involved in organizing the program, especially Prof. Hofstätter and the team at the DPE for taking the time to show our guest around, and of course, a big “Thank You!” to Mr. Gundacker and Mr. Spady for visiting Leoben. We hope you enjoyed your stay just as much as we did.
The panelists were Prof. Philippe Le Billon, geographer at the University of British Columbia, and Manana Kochladze, biologist, founder of the environmental watchdog group Green Alternative and winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize 2016. Moderator of the discussion was the Head of the Politics Department at the University of Linz Prof. Karin Fischer.
The opening statements were dedicated to the question of who are the “main actors” in the political and economic oil network, as well as what role they play, and what drives them. Looking at reserves, Prof. Le Billon stated that the two biggest players are Saudi Arabia (conventional) and Venezuela (heavy oil); however, looking the resources, the United States are the clear leader ahead of Russia. He also provided an insight in the economics of oil production: Assuming 100USD oil price, 20USD are lifting costs. This number will only vary slightly despite oil price changes. The oil producing countries’ governments take another 33USD as royalties etc., 40USD go to the consumer countries’ governments as taxes and corporate profit would only be 7USD. In the current price environment, this means that ca. 1/3 of the oil price are lifting costs (as they are quite independent of the oil price), governments take 63%, and only a mere 3-4% are left up for the international oil companies (IOCs). This implies that IOCs are striving to reduce lifting costs.
Mrs Kochladze focused her opening statement on the communities, and their role: Only in the past 20-30 years, oil companies started to involve the locals in their business and saw them as equal stakeholders in projects – a cause for many conflicts in the past, some of which lasting until now. Another aspect of her statement was the way how the mindset of oil companies, and especially the governments of oil producers, works when it comes to justifying big investments: Economically challenging projects such as transit pipelines are split into sections, which will increase the profit and throughput per dollar spent: Imagine a pipeline that costs 1bn USD and has an expected throughput of 1bcf of gas, that would mean 1bcf/USD. But splitting the pipeline into four sections, which obviously have the same throughput, the performance will increase to 4bcf/USD, making the project look a lot better! However, the overall economic feasibility remains the same and often even questionable).
The topic of the discussion slowly moved into the direction of conflicts over oil, and how they affect the geopolitical situation. The consensus that was reached was that there are five different reasons for conflicts over oil:
“Peak Oil” – the struggle over the remaining reserves
Geopolitical aspect – oil as a strategic resource, and as a diplomatic “weapon”
Climate change – migration and other social changes caused by it
Environmental conflicts – both unarmed resistance against projects as well as “environmental terrorism” (i.e. violent opposition) as means to deal with oil companies and (often autocratic) governments of the oil producing countries
“Conflict Oil” – like blood diamonds, oil is a major economic factor for any party involved in armed conflicts
It was also stated that oil was the “excrement of the devil”, as it is not only the cause for conflicts, but also for the local communities, which are often suppressed to make prestigious projects possible.
“Oil is a very practical fuel. Thus, it will be hard to replace it in transportation, but it is fairly easy to replace in other areas, such as heating and energy production, or for the production of packing material.”
Philippe Le Billon
Finally, the question of how to cope with increasing oil prices, the environmental impact of oil and finding alternatives to fossil fuels was raised. As we live in the “Oil Age”, petroleum simply is our most important natural resource. A population increase will inevitably lead to an even higher consumption, both by direct causes such as transportation and heating, and by indirect ones, such as the production of many consumer goods. Visionary takes on this problem will be needed to succeed – and electrical mobility is seen as such a thing by the panelists. Moreover, the private car will – according to the panelists – vanish from cities, and the bicycle should become the number one means of transportation there.
The second half of the session was dedicated to questions from the audience. Geopolitical questions, such as the role of Iran and China as well as of the new US government were discussed as well as more technical ones in the direction of the feasibility to get rid of fossil energy sources altogether in the near future, or the impact of a transition towards e-mobility on environment and global economy.
The geopolitical aspect was answered in the following way: While the decision of US President Trump to include Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson (Secretary of State) in his cabinet may not mean too much (and is not even unusual as Dick Cheney, Vice President under George W. Bush was CEO of Halliburton), the nomination of Scott Pruitt as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency) is clear signals towards the energy sector: He is assumed to facilitate hydraulic fracturing operations in the US, securing the US role on the global oil market on a longer time. As for China, the focus will probably be to spend the accumulated money on oil projects in the Caucasus and the Balkans, thus weakening the role of Russia for Europe’s supply security. The lifting of sanctions against Iran on the other hand will primarily have regional effect: the mid- and downstream industry in the neighboring countries will be affected, as those will be the countries that will have to ensure the transportation to the consumers in Europe.
The discussion was concluded with the final statement that oil demand has peaked, and will probably decline in the developed countries. However, especially in the US there is a significant correlation between oil price and consumption, which will not assist in moving on towards other resources.
(We would like to point out that the above opinions, especially on political topics, are the reproduction of the ones stated in the panel discussion, they do not necessarily reflect the ones of the Student Chapter.)
Arriving in Clausthal in the middle of the night, we soon went to sleep, because we knew the next day would be long: In the early morning of December 8, we’d meet our German colleagues as well as a delegation of Russian students to go to Celle, the heart of German oil production, or as it is also referred to, the “German Texas”. Many oil field service providers are located in Celle – and we had the opportunity to visit one of them: Halliburton.
Being welcomed by to young engineers who had recently graduated from TU Clausthal, we received a short introduction to “the Reds”, the World’s largest oil field service company. After that, our groups got a tour through the cement lab, where Halliburton experts can test the properties of cement slurries not only under atmospheric, but also under the HPHT conditions that are encountered in the well. Moreover, we got to see their workshops and field equipment, such as high pressure pumping units ro coiled tubing trucks. Seeing all this high-tech equipment left us in awe, but on the other hand the possibility to see those things stacked also reminded us of the state our industry is in.
Halliburton’s heavy coiled tubing equipment stacked in Celle
Our second stop after lunch was the Drilling Simulator Celle, a sophisticated and ambitious research project also led by TU Clausthal. The drilling simulator is split into two parts – a software, and a hardware part. The software part is a simulation program that allows the replication of drilling, tripping etc. operations, but with some advanced programming going on, the ambitious goal is also to incorporate a realistic simulation of non-normal drilling operations, mainly their occurrence. For example, the plan is to allow kicks to occur when entering a high-pressure zone “automatically”, instead of at the order of the controller; likewise, drill bit wear (due to normal operations as well as because of poor drilling practice) will be simulated in the future.
Training for our future jobs – at the Drilling Simulator Celle. We still have to get used to wearing safety equipment, though…
The second part is the hardware part, which is still under construction. It consists of a 60m long horizontal casing section, at the end of which 5m of pressurized rock sample will be placed. By applying backpressure, it will be possible to simulate downhole conditions of up to 100bar with this tool, which is supposed to be completed in the first quarter of next year.
Horizontally aligned top drive of Drilling Simulator Celle’s hardware part
After dinner in Clausthal, our cultural program continued with a short trip to the nearby city of Goslar, where we visited the Christmas market, which is said to be one of the most beautiful ones in Germany – a fact that our delegation said is doubtlessly true.
The next day, we took another trip to Goslar to see the picturesque old city, which seems not to have changed in the last three centuries. The Christmas Gala then started at 4p.m. in the Aula of TU Clausthal. We heard some motivating and inspiring speeches by the department head of TU Clausthal Prof. Joachim Oppelt, SPE German Section representative Ingo Forstner and SPE South, Central and Eastern Europe Regional Director Matthias Meister, who talked about how to get the most out of your SPE membership (join, attend events, and volunteer, by the way). The highlight of the evening was Mr Darcy Spady’s talk. The 2018 SPE International president talked about his career (which he said is an example of what not to do and still succeed), and what we as the future of our industry will have to deal with – both the challenges we will face on a professional working level and in the Society of Petroleum Engineers. The whole ceremony was accompanied by musical performances of students at TU Clausthal.
Music act by TU Clausthal students
After the speeches, the dinner gave us a nice opportunity to talk to old friends and make new ones over a wide selection of German food and their famous beer.
Already being close by, we decided to postpone our return to Leoben and visit Hannover and its local Christmas market on Saturday before packing our suitcases and returning to our own beloved Alma Mater Leobiensis.
A great Thank You to the TU Clausthal SPE Student Chapter for their hospitality and this inspiring Christmas party – it was a pleasure to be there!
Arriving in Moscow on a freezingly cold Tuesday afternoon, we were accompanied to our dormitory. Already at the airport, we met some old friends from Krakow, who had arrived just a few minutes earlier. The next morning, after breakfast, the congress participants left for the university. The opening ceremony was dominated by a discussion of arctic operations under the motto “Arctic – From Ideas to Actions”. Several aspects from technical challenges to political conflicts were mentioned by the high-ranked experts on stage.
In the afternoon, our delegation got a short private tour of a whole new training center sponsored by Rosneft. In the light of the recently established cooperation between our universities, this high-tech lecture rooms are particularly interesting even for us Leoben students, since they might become your potential lecture rooms as well!
In the meantime, the 2018 SPE President Darcy Spady had started his presentation. In his motivational speech, he talked about his career and how he thinks that working in small companies with a more family-like environment is the best working experience he could imagine. He also talked about the importance of being an expert, and how this expertise helps one’s career.
The last session of the day were the Student Paper and Poster Contests. Split into more than 10 sections, about 100 presentations were made on research and development projects made by students. The Leoben delegation was represented by Markus Hofmeister in the Alternative Energy section, and by Florian Gamperl (Drilling). Both students participated with topics from the Literature Review Project.
Wednesday began with a Career Fair and in parallel a contest sponsored by Schlumberger. While students got the opportunity to talk to representatives of the sponsoring companies, inform themselves about job opportunities and career development, they could also get some hands-on experience in petroleum engineering decision making: The goal was to define an ideal drilling spot for an exploration well based on the reservoir structure map. This was followed by the PetroOlympic Games, a series of fast-paced questions about all aspects of the petroleum business, in which 5 teams of 6 students each competed against each other, showing their knowledge about the industry.
Chapter representatives discussing at the Round Table
After the lunch break, our delegation participated in a Round Table of Student Chapters, presided by Mr. Spady. We discussed the most efficient ways of networking, and how to make the most of your SPE membership – with the unsurprising conclusion that the most important thing is to participate in as many events as possible, talk to your fellow students and present your own research work.
But the undoubted highlight of the day was the official closing ceremony of the congress. Not only the food at the gala dinner was excellent, but also the entertainment program, a mixture of Russian folklore and youth culture together with short speeches of the organizers and university representatives was very interesting. Moreover, the winners of the Paper and Poster Sessions were announced: We are proud of our representatives for winning the second place in the Drilling category, and the first place in the Alternative Energy section! Moreover, we would like to congratulate our member Markus Hofmeister for helping his team to win the PetroOlympic Games!
Our representatives Markus (left) and Florian (right) at the Award Ceremony
Such great success had to be celebrated, and what better way to do that than in a club? The official afterparty was another platform to celebrate, and to network. Good mood until the early morning hours dominated, and we went to bed tired, but excited of what had been so far, and what would be yet to come…
Oil and Gas Horizons officially ended with trips to various sponsoring companies: Salym Petroleum, for example – a joint venture of Gazprom and Shell – is a rather small company, but they are highly innovative, operating their whole oil fields in Siberia remotely using the “Smart Oil Field” concept as one of only few companies worldwide. Other company visits included Halliburton’s Moscow office, Deloitte and the university’s drilling department, with its offshore drilling simulator, which never ceases to amaze the students from Leoben (as our regular readers will probably know already).
Sightseeing in Moscow – Moscow City, in front of some of Europe’s talles sky scrapers
After reuniting for lunch, we were split up again for guided tours of Moscow. While the “novices” were taken to the “must-see” places like the Red Square, Kremlin and Arbat, the regular Moscow visitors were introduced to Moscow’s secret places, such as the area around the Patriarch Ponds, not only the main setting of Mikhail Bulgakov’s famous novel “Master and Margerita”, but without question one of the most beautiful parts of this amazing city.
All good things pass, and it was soon time for us to say good bye again, to return home. It was a great honor to be able to participate in such a truly amazing and outstanding event. Thank you very much for our great time at Gubkin university – and of course a great thank you to the organizers for making this event an unforgettable experience! Спасибо вам большое!
The event was kicked off for the students by a field trip to the OMV Refinery in Schwechat, in which not only students from MUL, but also from Clausthal (Germany), Moscow, Ufa and Almetyevsk (Russia) participated. We were shown a nice presentation about the refinery, how the process works as well as how OMV innovates and invests in environmentally sustainable technology. Then we boarded our bus and went through the refinery. We realized that the refinery turned into a comprehensible site: Suddenly all the “smoking tall towers” almost everyone knows from their way to the Vienna airport turned into chimneys, reactors, distillation towers and so on. After about an hour, we had seen all facilities, and we could return to the canteen, have lunch and return to Leoben. But on our way to Leoben, we encountered a little surprise:
About halfway to Leoben, the bus suddenly slowed down, and exited the highway for a stop in Ternitz in Lower Austria. To the surprise of the participants, we could arrange a quick visit at Schoeller Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment (SBO), one of the world’s leading manufacturers of special purpose drill string components, such as the basis for downhole motors, non-magnetic drill pipes or various logging and measurement devices. Although due to the current industry downturn the plant seemed nearly dead, we could get a good impression of how things could be here when the demand for high-quality products is high. The tour gave the opportunity to see the whole manufacturing process, starting from the raw steel cylinder over various treatment processes to the precision work of drilling out holes with diameters reaching from a few millimeters up to several inches, which are required to fit in various measurement tools, motors or electrical cables.
After returning from the Field Trip – and introducing our guests to the traditional Leoben semester opening events – we gathered again on Tuesday afternoon for the start of what would become two and a half days of intensive presentations, discussions and networking. The event started with Professor Thonhauser welcoming the guests, talking about the history of our department. His introduction was followed by interesting and inspiring keynote speeches from important and high-ranking industry veterans.
Christopher Veit (OMV), who chose to talk about the successful scientific cooperation between MUL and OMV, was followed by a speech by Gerald Grohmann (coincidentally the CEO of SBO which we had visited just the other day). He introduced the audience to his company’s operations. The keynote speeches were continued by a representative of Rosneft, Franz Wohlfart. He talked about his company, which seems to be quite unknown in Europe, despite being one of the largest oil companies not only in Russia, but worldwide, and more importantly, about the importance of strategic planning, exceeding just the next reporting period. In his opinion, even our industry, which is dominated by significant price fluctuations, has to think in dimensions well exceeding 10 years to position ourselves and to be prepared for the future!
SCOPE Chairman Daniel Hirschl is giving his welcome address. (click/tap on image to open gallery)
Chris Veit, SVP Exploration, Development and Production at OMV, explains the successful scientific cooperation between MUL and OMV.
Ted Christiansen, Managing Director at voestalpine Tubulars, focused on innovation in his keynote.
Ted Christiansen and Professor Gerhard Thonhauser
Kris Ravi, PhD, President at Kris-Ravi Consultancy during his speech about well integrity.
Dinner
Philip Keil – professional pilot, speaker, author – giving his inspiring keynote prior the dinner.
Philip Keil – professional pilot, speaker, author
Panel discussion “Last 60 Years – Next 60 Years”
Matthias Meister, SPE Regional Director for South, Central and East Europe, addresses his key points at the panel discussion.
Ted Christiansen of voestalpine Tubulars focused on innovation, and the role of our generation: We will be the ones whose visions will bring the industry forward in the future. He encouraged the audience to think out of the box, be curious and creative, and most of all persistent if we are convinced of an idea! The last keynote was by Kris Ravi, a former Halliburton Technology Fellow, now running his own consultancy, who talked about well integrity.
The day was concluded by a gala dinner in the Congress Leoben. Along with a great selection of typical Austrian food, we could talk and get to know each other. But even during dinner, we had the great opportunity to listen to another great presentation: Philip Keil, a professional pilot with Lufthansa, talked about the techniques pilots use to keep calm even in unusual and highly stressful situations. “Aviate, navigate, evaluate” and a technique called “FORDEC” (acronym for “Facts, Options, Risks & Benefits, Decision, Execution, Check”) does not only help pilots, but they are also things we could use for ourselves. The basic idea behind those models are to have a predefined “checklist”, what has to be done first before doing the next step. It also gives a clear priority to the important things (Aviate, i.e. flying the plane is the key, and only if that is guaranteed, the pilot can go to the next task, which is to follow his route. And only when on this route, he can deal with all the “greater picture”).
Wednesday morning was dominated by a panel discussion between Prof. Hofstätter, Prof. Ott, Kris Ravi (Halliburton), Helmut Langanger (ex-head of OMV E&P) and Matthias Meister (Baker Hughes, Regional Director of SPE) led by Prof. Thonhauser. The motto of the discussion was “Last 60 years, next 60 years”, investigating various aspects of the industry, what led us to the status quo, and more importantly the outlook to the future. While the panelists did not share an opinion on the role of renewables, and how much our own industry should focus on this subject, there was one thing quite clear: The future generation will see some significant changes, but oil will always be important, and a high quality education is the key to success. With this reassuring message, the official program of the 60th anniversary celebration was ended over lunch.
This was the time when the SPE Student Chapter took over, now under the motto “PEfficiency – New Technologies to Improve the Energy Efficiency of the Oil and Gas Industry”. On Wednesday afternoon, Matthias Meister talked about the newest developments in logging while drilling made possible by Baker Hughes, one of the world’s largest oilfield services providers. The second presentation was done by Peter Soroka and Anna Petitt, presenting their company Tendeka, a market leader in the production of completion equipment. They also talked very much about autonomous inflow control devices, a piece of technology Tendeka developed, which is used to control water and gas influx in oil wells. This allows a more efficient production of oil while not having to shut in perforations completely.
Schlumberger Poster Contest (click/tap on image to open gallery)
Larissa Zhigalova presenting her poster “Optimization of the Process for Biodiesel Fuel Production Using the Fungal Cells as a Catalyst”
Christian Mudrak on “Subsea Production Systems”
Alexis Koulidis and Mislav Halilovic talking about “Extended Reach Drilling Wells – Cost Reduction, Challenges, and Solutions”
Christian Burgstaller, Rohoel-Aufsuchungs Aktiengesellschaft (RAG), opens the SCOPE: PEfficiency Session TWO on Thursday with his presentation on “ New Approaches of Using Fluid Level Data for Production Optimization and Reservoir Engineering Applications (SPE-180159-MS)”
Reinhard Pongratz, OMV, talking about his successful career in the oil and gas industry.
SPE Vienna Basin Section PetroQuiz
SPE Vienna Basin Section PetroQuiz
SPE Vienna Basin Section PetroQuiz
SPE Vienna Basin Section PetroQuiz
SPEcialists – The winners of the SPE Vienna Basin Section PetroQuiz
The sessions on Wednesday were concluded with the Poster Contest sponsored by Schlumberger, the world’s largest oil field service provider. 14 contestants from nearly all attending universities competed with interesting topics reaching from reservoir engineering over drilling and production technology as well as pipeline engineering and even alternative fuels. At the end, the proud winner of the contest was Airat Kashkarov, representing Ufa State Petroleum Technological University. Congratulations to him, and of course to all the participants to the Poster Contest for their outstanding research work!
Thursday was again under the patronage of your local SPE Chapter. Our participants could hear an interesting presentation about an exciting technology developed by the Austrian company RAG: The MURAG system, which allows an automatic measurement of the liquid level in a well, which is used to adjust pump speed for an optimized efficiency. The presentation, followed by a nice discussion about the benefits of this tool, was held by Christian Burgstaller, one of the leading developers of the MURAG system. His presentation was followed by the former chairman of the SPE Vienna Basin Section, Reinhard Pongratz. He talked about his own worldwide career with Halliburton, and then OMV as well as within SPE. His speech was a motivation to join SPE and to be active there – as he said, a very rewarding experience, although it takes a certain commitment.
The third presentation of the morning session was then somewhat science-fiction, reminding the audience of the legendary film “Armageddon”: David Kutas and Alexios Koulidis, a recent graduate and a master student of MUL, presented their research about drilling in outer space. A well-prepared and really interesting presentation was followed by a lively discussion, in which pros and cons of such a missions were discussed. While apparently the time for drilling in outer space is yet to come, it needs great visions and free spirits like these two guys to drive development and innovation!
Last but not least, Prof. Helmut Weiss of Montanuniversitaet Leoben’s Electrical Engineering Department introduced us to the electrical engineering of sucker rod pumps and the enormous potential for increasing efficiency on that field!
After lunch, SCOPE was concluded with a fun event called PetroQuiz, which was hosted by our sponsoring SPE Section, the Vienna Basin Section. Under the guidance of a jury of four industry professionals, about 30 participants competed, showing off their knowledge on various fields of petroleum engineering, and our knowledge from drilling, production and facilities, to reservoir engineering, and even our general engineering knowledge was put to the test. The final round was won by the team “SPEcialists”, consisting of students of Leoben and Zagreb university, closely followed by a Russian-German-Ukrainian trio and another team from Leoben.
Participants of the Schlumberger Poster Contest (click/tap on image to open gallery)
Handing over the certificates for successful participation in the Schlumberger Poster Contest.
SCOPE Chairman Daniel Hirschl with the winner of the Schlumberger Poster Contest, Airat Kashkarov.
SPE Faculty Advisor Professor Gerhard Thonhauser giving his closing remarks to the audience.
Mining University of Leoben SPE Student Chapter President Oliver P. Spenger officially closes the first edition of SCOPE: PEfficiency.
Mining University of Leoben SPE Student Chapter President Oliver P. Spenger together with the SCOPE Organizing Committee Daniel Hirschl, Florian Gamperl and Christoph Schwarzenegger.
A great thank you to every participant, making this event possible. At the same time, we would also like to thank all those involved in the planning and execution of this memorable event – organizing the framework, inviting speakers, putting up the questions for the quiz etc. – it could not have been such a great experience to everyone without your input!
Finally, we would like to congratulate our Department of Petroleum Engineering to its 60th anniversary, and wish the department, its members and most all its students a bright future! To many more great years to come!
Arriving there we were greeted by Mr Martin Müller, our tour guide. At first we were invited into the meeting room for a presentation about the refinery, giving us not only a good overview of the processes that happen in a refinery, but also about the in- and output of the refinery, as well as some interesting statistics.
For example, did you know that despite Austria’s reputation of producing hardly any oil 10% of the oil processed in Schwechat actually comes from the oil fields in Lower Austria? Or did you know where the by far largest amount of oil refined in Austria comes from? (If not, you’re probably not the only one. The correct answer is Kazakhstan, by the way.). All the imported oil, we learned today, comes to Austria via pipelines from Trieste in Italy. To transfer the same amount of oil by truck, more than 900 trucks would be required to travel the distance – per day!
Now that we knew where the crude oil comes from, we could start following its course through the refinery. The first step – after leaving the storage tanks (which can store three months’ worth refining, equaling about 2.4 million tons) – is distillation. The crude gets heated up, thus separating its constituents due to the different boiling points. Since the oil is often contaminated, for example with acid components like Sulphur, it has to be sweetened, i.e. the sour components need to be removed in order to avoid corrosion as well as other problems, e.g. harmful exhaust fumes.
Since the refinery cannot create the products in the same proportions as they are required, the distilled and desulphurized products are “upgraded”. This includes thermal and chemical treatments such as cracking and reforming, where the output can be precisely controlled via the operation parameters. This allows to adjust the refinery output to the actual consumer needs. In the case of Schwechat, this is about 40% diesel oil, 20% gasoline (Yes, we actually consume nearly twice as much diesel than gasoline in Austria!) and 10% jet fuel and petrochemicals each. The remaining 20% of the refinery output include for example hydrocarbon products such as bitumen and asphalt, LPG or CNG and byproducts such hydrogen, Sulphur or sulphuric acid, products that are required in large amounts by other industry branches, such as the steel industry.
The last step in the refinery process is the so-called blending. Individual fractions are recombined to achieve certain properties and specifications, such as the octane number for gasoline fuels, or freezing points (for example diesel composition varies between summer and winter to guarantee an optimum efficiency while not risking that the fuel freezes). OMV applies an in-line blending system, which means that the different semi-products are not mixed in a tank using a huge impeller to avoid separation, but by feeding different semi-products directly into the pipes. This has the advantage of being more efficient and at the same time achieving a more homogeneous product.
The now finished products are ready for shipping. They are pumped to the tank farms in Lobau (Vienna), St. Valentin (Upper Austria) or directly to the close-by airport (only jet fuel). From there, they are either distributed onwards using ships, trucks or trains, or directly sold to the consumers.
Passing by refinery on the way to the airport, it appears needless to say that such a plant consumes a lot of energy. Hence OMV has its own power plant on site. The energy created is not only consumed in the refinery itself, but also sold to the surrounding towns. Furthermore, OMV uses the heated water and steam to produce energy, and they also to provide the heat for heating homes and the airport.
Mr Müller also talked about the investments OMV makes to reduce the environmental footprint, and to make the refining process greener. This includes not only converting the generated heat, hot process water and the electricity as energy on site and in the surrounding area, but also the implementation of new technologies, such as the recent reactor upgrade or the ButaMax facility. This facility produces butadiene, a substance required for producing rubber (e.g. for tires). Furthermore, many other industry branches that rely on refinery products, semi- or byproducts are located next to the refinery, rendering transportation nearly unnecessary. For example, Borealis, who produce polymers, are located right beside the refinery itself.
After this presentation, packed with lots of information, we were glad to have a short coffee break before entering the bus and getting the opportunity to see all those facilities we had just heard about in operations. In about 45 minutes, we got a good impression not only of the immense size of the refinery, but also about the facilities it hosts, and their basic working principles.
Soon it was time for lunch, and then to travel back to Leoben, although we encountered a little surprise on our way back…
About halfway to Leoben, the bus suddenly slowed down, and exited the highway for a stop in Ternitz in Lower Austria. To the surprise of the participants, we could arrange a quick visit at Schoeller Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment (SBO), one of the world’s leading manufacturers of special purpose drill string components, such as the basis for downhole motors, non-magnetic drill pipes or various logging and measurement devices. Although due to the current industry downturn the plant seemed nearly dead, we could get a good impression of how things could be here when the demand for high-quality products is high. The tour gave the opportunity to see the whole manufacturing process, starting from the raw steel cylinder over various treatment processes to the precision work of drilling out holes with diameters reaching from a few millimeters up to several inches, which are required to fit in various measurement tools, motors or electrical cables.
We would like to take a moment to remind you to renew your membership in SPE International. It only takes a few seconds after logging in to your SPE account on www.spe.org. Remember that Chevron offers to cover your membership fee of 15US-$ for student memberships.
Why should I renew my membership?
Don’t miss out on great opportunities to extend your knowledge, in conferences, workshops, distinguished lectures or webinars – the access to these events is less expensive for members (or even free!). This does not only include technical skills, but also soft skills like team work, leadership and other management-related topics.
Grow your network! SPE is an international organization, which does not only offer networking opportunities during conferences etc., but in fact also has its own social network, SPE Connect. There you can ask your questions to the community, and you can join interesting discussions on almost any burning matter of the industry.
Local events: Your SPE Student Chapter Leoben works hard to bring the best possible program directly to you. Be it our SCOPE Congress, the distinguished lectures in cooperation with the Vienna Basin Section, soft skill workshops or the upcoming series of technical and company presentations. If you prefer to keep it light, here are some highlights for socializing in the next academic year: the famous Oil BBQ in summer, or the upcoming movie night in November.
Field Trips to facilities in Austria and abroad (2014: Kazakhstan, 2015: Russia, 2016 Germany)
Join the League of Volunteers: SPE is a non-profit organization, and all we do is done in our free time. It is rewarding, and a great opportunity to take serious responsibility, so we can only recommend to join the SPE League of volunteers, spreading the spirit of SPE!
It was attended by representatives of the French, Italian, German, Croatian, Romanian, Polish and Hungarian Sections, as well as by the hosts, the VBS, representatives of two Student Chapters (Zagreb and Leoben), and by Blaine Horner, Staff Liaison Officer for SPE South, Central and Eastern Europe. Various topics were discussed, from questions like where does our industry go (particularly under the current oil price), and operational questions like community engagement, volunteerism and supporting students to questions like how can we reach out to new members and how one can benefit from the membership in SPE.
The session was started with an outlook of the oil price and its impact on the industry. The problems caused by the downturn are enormous, not only for the job situation, but also for organizations like SPE, who currently also suffer from reduced sponsoring, waived membership fees and a loss of members due to people leaving the industry. The key points that we will have to face in the future (and this is a particular challenge for us as the next generation), are a lower oil price for a longer period, where prices about 50$ will be the new normal (as opposed to prices over 80$ a few years back), Big Data and the implication of new technologies, transitioning towards the idea of the “Digital Oil Field”, and a new efficiency in all our operations, from fuel and energy efficiency to responsibly and sustainably dealing with the resources.
A key point was also volunteering, and the benefits of being in SPE: Not only is SPE an international network of upstream professionals, it is also the number one resource for knowledge and technology, be it PetroWiki, OnePetro, the various SPE Textbooks or be it conferences, where we reach out to the oil and gas community in order to disseminate knowledge and technology. As a non-profit organization, SPE relies on member contribution; hence it was a key question to see how the various sections approach their members to make the step ahead, and becoming actively involved in their local SPE branch. While the approaches may be different from section to section, the most significant differences are probably between the philosophies of the professional Sections and the Student Chapters, who find social media their natural habitat, thus using their capabilities more to the limit. Also, they seem to be more open to events that are not strictly technical events but focus more on having fun networking and getting to know new people.
It was also interesting to see how different sections reach out to their younger members, supporting students and young professionals. For example, students at IFP School in France have created an exciting and interesting game called “Reservoir Box”, which was supported by French Section of SPE. In this game, the participants experience the whole lot of problems a company in the E&P business faces, from making technical and financial decisions to dealing with unexpected situations, and most of working in teams and as teams. A link to the very interesting video can be found on the LinkedIn page of SPE France. Representative of the German Section Caroline Kannwischer talked about their take on integrating young professionals, a seemingly difficult task in Germany, where the industry is distributed over the whole country. This is something, where also the Vienna Basin Section has experience in, since it comprises Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, reaching even across 3 countries with three different languages – not to mention the Upper Austrian field office of RAG in Gampern! Despite geographical inconveniences, they are involved in organizing workshops, conferences and even do visits in the major oil towns in order to recruit people and supporting young professionals, and arranging socializing events.
Furthermore, the SPE German Section cooperates with oil companies in order to improve the training of the new generation in the industry, enabling their successful transition from academia to their companies.
The representatives of SPE France presenting their section, talking about cooperation with other organizations. Photo Credit: Daniel Hirschl
After lunch, a brainstorming session took place, focusing on the topics “Supporting Members Through a Downturn”, Volunteers, and Social Media. Burning matters to which no unique solution exists, but SPE takes all the input seriously, and working on an improvement to satisfy the needs of their members.
After nearly eight hours of presentations, discussion, brainstorming and small talk, a very fruitful and interesting meeting ended. Thank you to all the participants, not only for participating, but also for traveling to Vienna for this occasion; thank you also for the VBS to organize the meeting and OMV for providing the meeting room and its infrastructure in their head office!
On September 15th, about 25 members of the SPE Vienna Basin Section (VBS) gathered in the beautiful Viennese suburb Sievering for a geological excursion. Among them people of all generations, from student members (4 students of the SPE Student Chapter Leoben) over many professionals and young professionals to those who already enjoy their well-deserved retirement.
The destination of the excursion was a quarry nearby, which back in its days of glory was the origin of the building material of many buildings in Vienna. Our tour guides on this journey not only uphill, but also back in time were Hans Egger and Godfrid Wessely, two very experienced geologists who know the Vienna Basin like the back side of their hands. Under their expert guidance the group proceeded uphill, with short stops to give an introduction to how the basin was formed, knowledge which seemed to be present in all our heads from our studies and working experience, but not to the detail to which Mr Egger and Mr Wessely explained it to us in very simply and easy-to-understand words. They also showed the group paleo maps of Austria to better understand the greater context of what we were about to see.
The excursion soon left the main road, moving steeply uphill towards the old quarry; arriving there, an amazing and very impressive geological feature came into our view: Turbiditic sequences (Bouma Sequences), submarine avalanches which we learned in that excursion have some astonishing properties, such as their speed (these suspension of sediment particles move at an amazingly high speed), their extension of up to several hundreds of kilometers and their sedimentation rate. Turbidites can settle within a few seconds, but it can also be a process of hundreds or even thousands of years, as the ones that could be seen during our excursion.
The destination of the geological excursion, a turbidite sequence, evidence that some million years ago Vienna was covered by an ocean
Not only this amazing geological feature made the VBS geological excursion worthwhile; also the insight in the formation of the Vienna Basin and its extremely fast subsidence as well as the relevance of the geological setting for the formation and production of hydrocarbons were explained nicely and even understandable for us engineers. Furthermore, we were shown some small-scale sedimentary structures, such as the evidence of life – again something most of us remembered from university but hardly anyone has ever really noticed in real life.
All in all, the geological excursion was indeed very interesting. A huge thank you to the SPE VBS for organizing this event, and to our guides, Hans Egger and Godfrid Wessely.
After the geological excursion, we gathered again, after just a few minutes’ walk through the picturesque vineyards of northern Vienna, at Weinhof Zimmermann, a Viennese Heurigen, where more participants of the 25th anniversary celebration of the VBS waited for our arrival.
While waiting for the official program to start, the guests had the opportunity to meet old friends, colleagues, professors even, and to get to know new people, not only from the local SPE Section, but also from all over Europe – representatives of the SPE sections in Italy, France, Germany, Romania, Poland, Hungary and Croatia also joined the anniversary – or simply enjoy the breathtaking view of Vienna over a glass of wine. SPE Regional Director for South, Central and Eastern Europe, Matthias Meister attended the celebrations as well, not only because of the Regional Section Officers Meeting the next day, but also to honor a number of people and organizations for their contribution to the SPE Community.
Before dinner, a buffet with a rich selection of famous Austrian food, the celebration started with current Chairperson Andrea Payer-Moser honoring the founding members of the Vienna Basin Section, Prof. em. Brigitte Weinhardt, Prof. em. Gerhard Ruthammer and Prof. em. Zoltan Heinemann as well as the past chairpersons Gerhard Ruthammer, Klaus Potsch, Viktoria Wäger and Reinhard Pongratz, thanking them for their commitment to SPE, and handing over certificates of appreciation and an illustration by Klaus Potsch.
The past chairs also took the opportunity to talk about their experience in SPE, and some anecdotes about their time in SPE VBS (e.g. Gerhard Ruthammer said: “I joined SPE to polish my English, but they told me ‘Your English is Polish enough!’”).
The Leoben Students at the 25th Anniversary of the Vienna Basin Section Photo Credit: SPE VBS
After dinner the SPE Awards Ceremony took place –, where Matthias Meister honored several persons and organizations for their commitment to SPE and the industry:
Regional Awards:
OMV Petrom received an award for their support in organizing events for the SPE Romanian Section
The University of Lorraine was honored with the Regional Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculties
Jean-Marc Dumas, past chairman of the SPE France Section received the SPE Distinguished Membership Award
Klaus Potsch was honored with the Regional Service Award
International Awards Wards were handed over to
Georg Mittermeir has won the Cedric K. Ferguson Medal for his excellent research and publications on reservoir engineering topics, for which only researcher under the age of 35 are considered – which clearly shows that SPE cares very much about the young generation, the future of our industry.SPE Croatian Section (President’s Award for Section Excellence)
SPE Vienna Basin Section (2016 SPE Gold Standard Section)
Mining University of Leoben SPE Student Chapter (2016 SPE Gold Standard Student Chapter)
On this occasion, we would like to take a moment to congratulate every awardee, and we would like to thank everyone who has contributed to SPE in the last year, making these great achievements possible. To many more successful years with the SPE VBS and the SC Leoben!
We arrived in Zistersdorf after driving through the picturesque Lower Austrian wine (and oil) region Weinviertel, and were welcomed at RAG’s field office by their Head of Reservoir Management Michael Krassnitzer and the Geologist Hans-Gert Linzer. Our students got an interesting introduction to both the company and the geology of the Gaiselberg field – a peculiar field in several regards:
Due to its status of being a “Grubenfeld” (With its almost 80 years, the Gaiselberg field is one of the oldest oil fields in Austria.), the operator does not have to pay royalties, which is a big advantage at low oil prices; furthermore, the field is very well drilled despite its small size – more than 90 wells on only 4 square kilometers! This is necessary due to a very complex geology caused by the famous Steinberg fault.
After enjoying lunch in the office building, we were taken to several facilities in the environs of Zistersdorf, following the oil production from the well to the export lines. Our first stop was the Gaiselberg 86 well and the central production facilities close by. The SPE members got an impression of how the produced oil is separated from the (unfortunately much more) water and the gas. RAG pursues a very efficient way of using the produced fluids to a maximum: The gas is sold locally to be turned into electrical power, whereas the water is cleaned and reinjected into the reservoir. And most importantly the oil – the black gold is metered and pumped to the tank farm close to the refinery in Schwechat. The whole trip through the production facilities was accompanied by the favorite smell of our students – the smell of crude oil at noon.
Our next stop was RAG’s own workshop, where a few mechanics do repair jobs on almost all the tools RAG uses in the field. Packers, polished rods or tubing anchors – you name it, they repair them there! This gave our group the unique opportunity of seeing a great variety of standard oil field tools hands on, and have their functionality explained to us by those who know best, the people who use them day by day.
The highlight of the excursion was the visit of the Gaiselberg 1 well, Austria’s oldest producing well! Located on a gentle hill, this gave our group a view of the beauty of Lower Austria. Moreover, we took the opportunity to get to know two innovations of RAG. Firstly, we were introduced to one of Prof. Hofstätter’s inventions, a small electrical device which rotates the sucker rod string in order to allow for a more uniform wear on the rod string. After that, the students could hear about the MURAG system. This innovative system sold to companies all around the world provides continuous measurement of the fluid level inside a well.
Concluding our trip to Lower Austria, the SPE group went to a tank farm in Zistersdorf. There we heard about the necessity of storing crude oil for emergency situations. Moreover, we were shown the fully automated fire extinguishing system on the tanks.
We would like to thank RAG for their warm welcome and their hospitality. Without your sponsorship and your great team of guides, this truly amazing excursion would not have been possible!
The delegation was rather international, including students not only from Austria, but also from Germany, Hungary, Romania, Tunisia, and even the US. In total, the conference had around 300 participants, around 60 of which were from foreign countries.
Day 1 – March 8th
In small groups, our students arrived in the Croatian capital, leaving the early birds some time for sightseeing while waiting for the late arrivals. In the evening, we were guided to a restaurant and greeted with a great dinner of traditional Croatian cuisine.
Day 2 – March 9th
The conference was officially opened with speeches of the initiator of the ASEC, former SPE SC Zagreb President Filip Krunić, the current SPE Croatian Section President Dr. Vladislav Brkić and the Dean of the Faculty of Mining, Geology, and Petroleum Engineering, Prof. Zoran Nakić.
The opening ceremony was dominated by appreciating the conference sponsors and supporters, stating that “The moment we stop investing in knowledge, the next generation – in short: in the future – is the moment we stop working as a society!”. Furthermore, the hope for an intensified cooperation and joint projects with the neighboring Student Chapters was expressed. Within the frame of this, also the leader of the Leoben delegation, Oliver Kleinferchner, was honored for his efforts in supporting the logistics of the conference. The musical part of the opening ceremony was covered by five great members of the faculty’s choir, singing traditional Croatian folk songs.
After the opening ceremony, there was an interesting panel discussion about the pros and cons of drilling offshore in the Adriatic Sea. Even though the panel consisted only of petroleum engineers, the discussion was very lively, because some participants were – not entirely expectable – against oil and gas production in the Adriatic Sea; their concern about the negative impact of leakages and spills, not only on the environment, but also on tourism, one of Croatia’s main economic branches, was too big.
Panel discussion on the topic of offshore drilling in the Adriatic – moderator Igor Dekanić, and the participants Davor Štern, Željko Belošić, Pavle Uroda and Zdenko Dvorščak
Technical presentations and insights in the research work of fellow students from all across Europe, as well as the operations of major oil and gas companies followed before and after the lunch break. The official program was then concluded by a workshop on the production analysis program Prosper.
However, the day did not end with this: After some free time, we could use to explore the city, or to simply have a rest, a disco night was organized, lasting until the early morning hours. This gave us plenty of time to get to know our fellow participants and local people.
Day 3 – March 10th
The presentations of the day were under the sign of environmental aspects of our industry, talking about waste disposal through wells, or geothermal energy. Since the weather was good, some of us decided to skip a promising-sounding afternoon session (dominated by the topics Oil Price and Energy Politics), and do some sightseeing instead.
St. Mark’s church in the heart of the Upper Town (“Gornij grad”) in one of Zagreb’s oldest part
Even though there was no program planned for the evening, a large part of our group gathered to explore a traditional brewery later that day, spending some time on enjoying some alternatives to our beloved “Gösser” beer.
Day 4 – March 11th
This was not only the day of the technical presentations, but also of the day of our delegation: Four people from Montanuniversitaet Leoben, among them DI Akos Kiss, DDI Dr.mont. Clemens Langbauer, Prof. Holger Ott and Prof. Herbert Hofstätter, giving some interesting insights into their research.
DDI Dr. mont. Clemens Langbauer presenting his research work to the participantts of the 3rd ASEC
After listening to such great and encouraging presentations, the official part of the conference ended with a great closing ceremony, again accompanied by the SPE Student Chapter’s own choir.
The day ended with another disco night in one of Zagreb’s most prolific clubs.
Day 5 – March 12th
Even though one of the most looked-forward-to event, the paintball game, had to be cancelled due to the unexpectedly bad weather, those of our delegation who chose to stay until Sunday, enjoyed another day in Zagreb, including a great BBQ in the afternoon, also organized by the SPE Student Chapter.
At this point, we would like to thank the organizers of the 3rd ASEC for their great work and effort and their hospitality throughout the whole week. It was a great pleasure to spend those five days in Zagreb, and we are looking forward to meeting everyone again as soon as possible!
(photo credit to all photos: Christoph Schwarzenegger)
It was quite a surprise for me, when SPE informed me in late June 2015 that I had been chosen to represent our university and its SPE Student Chapter at IPTC 2015 in Doha, Qatar. While unexpected, it was a great honor to join this multinational event, giving the opportunity to get an insight in the industry, and to get to know people from all around the world and their views and thoughts on academia, jobs and the current industry downturn.
This year’s SPE Student Chapter Leoben Field Trip brought 15 students, enrolled in both the undergraduate (B.Sc.) and graduate (M.Sc. and Ph.D.) programs to Russia. The goal of the trip was to get to know how students live and study in two of the most famous Russian Petroleum Universities, namely Moscow’s Gubkin University and the Ufa State Petroleum Technological University.
The first destination of our multinational group was the Russian capital, Moscow. Welcomed and guided by our colleagues of Gubkin University’s SPE Student Chapter, our students got not only the opportunity of visiting some of Moscow’s most famous sights, such as the Red Square, the famous Moscow Kremlin and the Cosmonautics Museum, but also the Russian State Petroleum University (РГУ нефти и газа им. И.М.Губкниа) and BakerHughes’ Russian Headquarters.
We got to meet university officials, who told us about the great opportunities for students and graduates of Gubkin University and showing us the high level of hands-on industry practice on state-of-the-art laboratory and training equipment. Finally, we had the opportunity to meet managers of BakerHughes who told us about their operations in the Russian and Caspian Sea Region, which was certainly a new and interesting aspect for our group.
Gubkin University’s NOV sponsored offshore drilling simulatorPumps and workover rig in the university yard help the students develop an understanding of oilfield operations
Furthermore – and this was certainly one of the highlights of our trip – our stay in Moscow was coinciding with the visit of SPE International President D. Nathan Meehan, who held a presentation for the Student Chapters at the Moscow universities to which we were also invited. After that, we also took the obligatory “SPElfies” with our Russian Friends and SPE-President Meehan.
“SPElfie” of our delegation with SPE President D. Nathan Meehan
After our five-days stay in Mocow, our group travelled further East to Ufa, where we could get a first impression of the famous Russian winter – heavy snowfalls and temperatures below 0°expected us upon our arrival in Ufa. Despite the cold weather we got a very warm welcome from Ufa’s SPE Student Chapter.
As in Moscow, we got the opportunity to meet with university officials and the local SPE Chapter who introduced us to their profTELEPORT project, which is a project that should guide students into their future professional work. The mutual friendship was strengthened by games encouraging out-of-the-box thinking, team building and team work.
After a tour through the university, Prof. Mastobaev of the Chair of Petroleum Transport and Storage invited us to a Q&A session about the university and the opportunities of a semester abroad.
Furthermore, our colleagues of the Ufa SPE Student Chapter organized for us an excursion to Burintekh, an Ufa based company specialized in the production of drilling and workover tools. We had the great opportunity to visit one of their factories, where Burintekh produces – among other products – roller cone and PDC drill bits. Our tour followed the manufacturing process from the raw material via the individual manufacturing and treatment steps down to quality control and quality assurance in the dedicated material science labs.
Visiting Burintekh together with the Ufa SPE Student Chapter
This year was a very important year for the Ufa SPE Student Chapter, as it was not only their tenth anniversary, but the student chapter has also been rewarded for their hard work over the past year with the “Outstanding Student Chapter Award”, which is a very highly respected decoration for every student chapter. These two great achievements have been celebrated on a large party in a Jazz Club in the city center of Ufa, to which we were also invited. Along with dancing and karaoke performed by the students, we got our last chance of talking to our Russian colleagues, as this party also marked the end of our stay in Russia.
Our group members in uniforms of different Russian oil and gas companies – at the museum of Ufa University
On a little side note, we would like to mention that a close cooperation exists between Ufa State Petroleum Technology University and Montanuniversitaet Leoben, which makes student exchanges very simple. Currently, we have some students from Ufa in Leoben, and there are a few students from our university planning on doing a semester abroad in Ufa. After having seen this university, we would really like to encourage all of our students to consider such a great opportunity, as it can offer much more than only studying abroad, but also getting to know new people, broaden your mind and get an unforgettable experience in a foreign country! We are also doing our best to get a similar cooperation between our university and Moscow’s Gubkin University.
This Field Trip helped bonding and tightening the Austro-Russian friendship, both between the students and the Student Chapters. We are looking forward to many more international events and cooperations to come with our new friends, be it mutual visits, exchange programs or other joint events.
On this occasion, the SPE Student Chapter Leoben would like to thank our colleagues at Gubkin University and Ufa University for their hospitality, their kindness and their incredible help organizing all the amazing events we experienced in this week. Without you, this whole Field Trip would not have been the same, it would not even have been possible!
In the middle of October the SPE Student Chapter had the great pleasure to welcome a group of students from Gubkin State Oil and Gas University (РГУ нефти и газа им. И.М. Губкина) in Vienna and Leoben. The delegation of 12 students came to Hungary and Austria to visit the respective oil companies, MOL Group in Budapest and OMV in Gänserndorf, and took the opportunity to also visit our university for a day.
A team of our active members met our Russian friends in Vienna on October 10th, and showed them around in order to give them an impression of Vienna. We then accompanied the group to Leoben to spend the night, and the next day, we had the opportunity to present our university to them. This included not only a tour of our campus, but we also had the opportunity to give our friends an impression of the history of our Alma Mater in the Museum of the University as well as an insight in some of the research going on at the Department of Petroleum Engineering. In particular, our guests got to see the research facilities on ultrasonic wave applications and the brand new pump test unit. Furthermore, we got a tour of the geologists’ labs and an introduction to the work of the Chair of Petroleum Geology.
On behalf of our team, we would like to extend our special thanks to Prof. Reinhard Sachsenhofer of the Chair of Petroleum Geology and to DI Mikhail Pavlov and DI Patrick Eisner of the Chair of Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Recovery as well as Dr. Johann Delanoy of the Museum of MUL for their interesting presentations.
Sadly, the stay of our Russian friends in Leoben was very short, because there was a tour to OMV’s Matzen Oil Field in Lower Austria planned for the next day, which also happened to be the last day in Austria for our colleagues from Moscow.
The departure of the delegation of Gubkin university made us only looking ore forward to our next opportunities to reunite with them such as the SPE Leoben Field Trip to Russia starting from Oct. 24th to Nov. 1st.
We are very grateful for getting this great opportunity of socializing with foreign students and (re-) presenting our university, and we hope that our guests enjoyed their stay in Austria as much as we enjoyed it.
