The SPE Vienna Basin Section held the PetroQuiz at its Annual BBQ on May 17th, 2018 in Prušánky, Czech Republic.
Six teams – bachelor and master’s students – from DPE-Montanuniversität Leoben took part in the PetroQuiz organized by the SPE Vienna Basin Section during its Annual BBQ, in Czech Republic, on May 17th, 2018. Professionals from sponsor companies such as OMV, RAG, SLB, MND, Terra, Greenwell, ProNova, VTU, PetroVisor and Nafta attended the event and shared their experience with the young students.
The SPE Student Chapter Leoben was responsible for the transportation and the promotion among the students. The first activity of the day was a guided-tour of the Slavic Fortified Settlement in Mikulčice, an early-medieval Great Moravian Memorial built along the 8th and 9th centuries. After the tour, students and professionals drove to the Hotel Beatrice, in Prušánky.
The PetroQuiz started with Alexander Gerstner, SPE VBS President, giving a speech and presenting the teams. The jury, Alexander Gerstner, Reinhard Pongratz and Jean-Marc Dumas explained the rules and kicked off the PetroQuiz. The teams, Oil Brothers, JL, Perdido, Wildcatter II, Slavinator and New Kids competed against each other during 9 rounds of questions. In the final-round, Perdido (Oscar Rojas, Luis Gonzalez, Sahar Abdullatif ) won against Slavinator (Sharadiya Kozak, Andreas Liegenfeld, Markus Frauwallner) in a hard-fought game.
After the award ceremony, all the participants gathered together and enjoyed the BBQ and wine tasting at the Hotel Beatrice’s restaurant and cellar.
Hyped by the remarkable run on the limited number of spots available, the expectations for this year’s Petroleum Engineering field trip to Amsterdam where high right from the start. The 24 students lucky enough to be on the trip organized by the student representatives and the SPE student chapter stayed at the Generator hostel in Amsterdam from the 25th (Sunday) until the 30th of March. During these days they enjoyed insights into oil and gas related companies and universities as well as the vibe of a city with a remarkable history, world class museums and amazing restaurants.
Shell Laboratories
After the arrival day, on Monday the field trip got kicked-off by a visit of the Shell Technology Center Amsterdam (STCA). The students were welcomed by Axel Makurat, team leader at Shell responsible for Rock and Fluid Physics and Professor Ott, who was visiting his former workplace.
After two very interesting presentations by Steffen Berg on his ideas on imaging pore scale displacement using x-ray tomography and by Sander Hol on special topics related to his research in geomechanics focusing on the Groningen gas field, the students were shown around inside the laboratories. The equipment that has been moved just recently from the former location of the upstream research facilities in Rijswijk, impressed by its state of the art technology.
The remainder of the equipment that yet has to be moved to Amsterdam was visited on Tuesday, including a hydraulic drilling rig capable of automated pipe handling.
Axel Makurat during the compulsory safety briefing inside STCA
TU Delft and TNO
The fourth day of the field trip was a busy one for the students. Hosted by the committed students of the SPE student chapter Delft and Professor Rossen, a specialist in surfactant EOR, our students got introduced to the university and its traditions as well as on the current research focus of its scientists.
Definitely worth to be mentioned is a creative workshop called Dream Hall inside the university. Student take time off their studies and spend a semester or more to work on design challenges or build vehicles to compete in races.
After lunch break, the Netherlands Organization for applied scientific research TNO hosted the students for a company presentation in their office and research facilities located close to the university campus in Delft. The independent organization focuses on solving engineering problems of economic and social value. Many of their topics are related to the oil and gas industry, like the development of a new riser geometry to mitigate tonal noise and vibrations on offshore gas production facilities.
The event concluded with a get together with representatives of the company, providing personal insight in the company structure and climate, including information about how to get to start working at TNO.
Student representative Florian Weninger discussing aerodynamical improvements with the design teams
In the beginning of March many students and young professionals from various technical universities across Europe gathered in the capital of Croatia for the 5th annual congress held by the SPE Student Chapter of the University of Zagreb together with the Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering at the INA headquarters. The congress which focuses on discussing the problems in the oil and gas industry and possible innovations has proven to be a success over the previous years and this year was no exception.
Panel discussion day one
The extensive congress program consisted of three days of lectures and panel discussions held by students and distinguished guests from Croatia and other countries with the attendance of several key figures from the oil and gas industry and the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
During the opening ceremony several speeches were held by the noted speakers involved in the organisation of the congress. Jean-Marc Dumas, SPE Regional Director for Central, South and East Europe and Vladislav Brkic, SPE Croatian Section President, Lidia Hrncevic, Vice Dean of the Faculty, Branka Ramijak, State Secretary of Ministry of Science and Education and Darko Markotic, Operative Director of Consumer Services and Retail at INA who outlined the importance of organising such events and, of course, students participation and contribution.
A panel session followed later on focusing on “The Future of the Oil and Gas Industry in Low-Carbon Energy” which provided the students with an interesting insight towards the current changes occurring in the energy sector which can affect their prospective careers. The panel was shared between professionals from the petroleum industry but also by Maja Pokrovac, Managing Director of Renewable Energy Resources of Croatia, leading to an intriguing discussion with the several students and attendees having the opportunity to ask their questions.
Later on the first day the students have been introduced to the Growww Program, which gives an opportunity for fresh graduates to start with their first working experience at INA d.d. This session has been followed by the presentation on an energy sector development in Namibia and Rwanda and two presentations from our Croatian and Hungarian colleagues as a part of the paper contest which also continued during the next days. In the evening a guided tour around the city has been organised which everyone greatly enjoyed despite the rainy weather.
During the second day, the attendees had the pleasure to sit in for a number of lectures on a variety of topics highlighted by Jean-Marc Dumas who emphasised the importance of the E&P’s transition into the digital age with the increasing inclusion of data analysis and intelligent solutions to the challenges faced at this day and age. Another panel session was also held by a number of young professionals from INA from the different departments to provide the students attending with a bigger picture about the professional world in the oil and gas industry. The panel speakers also were extremely open to the questions from the audience that were curious about their different backgrounds to inquire about their careers perspectives. Our MUL fellows Ahmed Elmenshawy and Mohamed Amine Ouarda also presented as a part of the paper contest.
On the final day of the conference, the conference continued not only with lectures from the paper contest candidates but also from Ivana Ivancic from Ivana PeK PPD about the gas balancing in Croatia. The poster contest included the works from students from a wide variety of universities including Anna Kulagina from Montanuniversitaet Leoben followed by the PetroTournament which involved teams from the different universities competing in a series of questions covering technical knowledge from Petroleum Engineering. The Leoben team consisting of the trio Anna Kulagina, Ahmed Elmenshawy and Mohamed Amine Ouarda unfortunately lost in the finals getting the second place.
Team Leoben during PetroTournament
The conference was concluded in the afternoon by a closing ceremony to award the winners in the paper and poster contest with our fellow Mohamed Amine Ouarda receiving the second prize in the paper contest. It was followed by the speeches from the organizers to thank the attendees and the people involved in the success of the student conference.
We would like to thank again the SPE Student Chapter of RGNF for their hospitality and congratulate them for the success of their annual conference and we look forward to seeing you again next year.
‘Enable the global oil and gas E&P industry to share technical knowledge needed to meet the world’s energy needs in a safe and environmentally responsible manner’ -SPE vision
SPE chapter leoben had the honor to welcome a special guest at our Alma Mater: OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries represented in Mrs. Hind Zaher from personal relations and Mr. Haris Aliefendic, a senoir analyst from the energy studies departement. The event started with Mrs. Zaher giving an introduction to the origins and history of esteemed organization while delivering key insights to its former and ongoing operations and aims. The latter was followed by another presentation by Mr. Aliefendic on the current oil market and the influence that OPEC has as an Organisation and an exciting Q/A session.
This event took place at the new Petroleum Depatment building (DPE) with students of the Petroleum Engineering and Geology Study Program where we had the pleasure to show OPEC our new building.
This was a fascinating event, providing a glimpse into one of the biggest and most important organisations in the oil and gas industry and therefore we would like to thank Mrs. Zaher and Mr. Alifendic for giving us their time and everyone involved in the making of this event.
SPE student chapter of Leoben was represented by 2 members which are Ouerda Mohamed Amine, and Hilali Maher in the 9th Edition of SPE Student Chapter Annual Paper Contest “Constatin Gh. Popa”. The event was held on the 18th to 20th May 2017 at the Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiesti, Romania.
Firstly, the event started by the opening ceremony which was presented by the SPE Romanian section representative: Manuela Badea and professor Constantin Nicolescu the Vice Dean of Petroleum and Gas engineering Faculty. Afterwards, sponsors’ representatives from Anvergo, NEWPARK Drilling Fluids, Conpet, Erasmus+ project and Gaslnfoservice presented their new technologies and projects in the current industry. The morning session ended by a panel discussion with different companies’ representatives: Alexandru Panoiu ( Anvergo), Mihai Tudose ( NEWPARK Drilling Fluids), Professor Valentin Batistatu ( Petroleum and gas engineering Faculty), Marian duta ( OMV Petrom) and Cristinela Budin ( Cameron). The main focus of the discussion was an investigation of the main challenges facing the oil and Gas industry in the current situation and the importance of soft skills for students and new graduates to adapt with the industry and the work environment.
After lunch, delegates from different student chapters made some presentations on their sections showing the main activities carried on and sharing ideas and experiences.
Finally, the first day end up with a Romanian dinner in a traditional restaurant in Ploiesti.
In the second day, 18 participants from different universities: Leoben, Clausthal, Ivano-Frankivsk, Gubkin Russian state university, Saint-Petersburg Mining University and Petroleum-Gas university of Ploisti presented their papers and posters which were related to geology, drilling, production and transportation.
The second day end up with city tour to the capital Bucharest including the famous Parliament, city parks , gardens and the old town.
In the third day, the closing ceremony took place and all the participants, delegates and organizing committee were graduated for the interesting conference.
Afterwards, we visited Campina city where the research and development branch of Petrom Company and other service companies. Finally, we had a visit to the historical city of Sinaia where the famous Peles Castel and we returned back to Ploiesti in the evening.
