Conference

SCOPE 2018 Résumé

As you all know, the Montanuniversität Leoben SPE Student Chapter was organizing the 2nd Student Congress of Petroleum Engineering under the title “PEoneer – Innovation and New Technology” in Leoben on October 15th-17th.

On Sunday, after the arrival of the incoming students from other chapters, universities and countries, we all had a warm welcoming get together at Bellini in Leoben. It is also called “Leoben oben”, which means Leoben from above and was a nice way for welcoming all participants and showing them the best view over the town. Our team was awaiting every participant with an info folder, including a city map for better orientation and one free drink of choice. Many students from all over the world were exchanging experiences in regard to studies, jobs and future plans. The tables were all pulled together, and everyone was chatting in excitement of the upcoming conference. The SPE Student Chapter Leoben was very eager to make everyone feel welcome and included. As some were tired from either travelling or classes, they went home rather early while others were at no shame to show our guests around Leoben a little while longer through the night. After all, the only thing that’s left to say is that it was a great start for a great conference with great people.

Monday, October 15th, the first official day of SCOPE 2018, started with the registration at the Department of Petroleum Engineering (DPE) building. Each participant and guest of honor received a goody bag filled with important information about not only SCOPE 18’ and the city of Leoben but also about our sponsors and their work, before heading to our organized breakfast.

At 10:00 a.m., we divided the participants into three groups and started our university tour. For each group, the tour included three main stops, but in a different order. First the drilling simulator presented by Senior Lecturer and PhD candidate Anton Lettner, who explained the principle along with the different applications of the simulator. He also focused on how the students use it in order to learn to interpret the different changes on the curves shown on the screens. Our first stop ended with a bonus, since one of our participants had the chance to manipulate the simulator and be in charge as it is in a real life situation.
The second stop was at the Geology and Geophysics Department, where Head of Petroleum Geology – Prof. Dr. Reinhard Sachsenhofer welcomed us with different posters related to the various on-going projects in our university. The participants had the opportunity to have a conversation with him about his experience in the different countries he has worked in and learned some fun-facts about the geology in the Vienna Basin in Austria, the Balkan Region, the Black Sea, China and many more. The tour ended with a visit to the geology museum where beautiful minerals and rocks are exposed for the eye to enjoy.
Our third and final stop was in the new DPE laboratory, where Head of Reservoir Chair -Prof. Dr. Holger Ott along with PhD candidate Pit Arnold not only showed the group the new equipment in the laboratory and their different applications but also presented their research about future core flooding experiments and microfluidics.
We want to thank all the guides for their nicely demonstrated tours. The tour concluded with a joined lunch at the main university.

The main part of the congress was initiated by a great opening ceremony, where the Mayor of the City of Leoben Kurt Wallner, Prof. Dr. Herbert Hofstätter and our President Christoph Flicker addressed warm welcome words to the congress participants.

One of the main highlights of SCOPE were the keynote speeches in which four different speakers from different companies spoke about their approach on how to tackle the challenges of innovation and industry 4.0. Christoph Steiner from PM Lucas Enterprise Limited started off with a technical description of his company’s solution of numerical simulation in naturally fractured reservoirs. Patrick von Pattay, who leads Wintershall’s 4.0 initiative, made it clear that breaking old habits can be disruptive in the short term, but also that rethinking and overhauling long-established processes is necessary for a modern and efficient approach. RAG’s MURAG, an innovative tool to automate processes in production operations, was presented by David Doppelreiter, Head of Business at the Austrian company, before Philipp Lang, Software Engineer at Schlumberger, completed the keynote session with his view on how far the petroleum industry can go in reservoir modelling. We, the SPE Student Chapter Leoben are very thankful for the invested time and work of the speakers and are also very proud to say, that all four speakers are Montanuniversität Leoben alumni.

In the afternoon, Peter Kronberger, Reservoir Engineer at Wintershall, Lukas Mosser, Postgraduate PhD Student at Imperial College, Franz Wohlfart, Deputy Department Director Wells Construction, JV’s and International Projects (Rosneft), Herbert Hofstätter, University Professor in Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Recovery and Hans Peter Messmer, Senior Research Analyst, Energy Studies Department at OPEC, gathered on stage under the spotlight to discuss some important points about the future of the oil and gas industry. The panel was moderated by David Doppelreiter. There was mainly a talk about oil company strategies for digitalization, adapting to new technologies and the impact it has from an economic and social viewpoint. The audience was able to join the conversation with submitting their questions during the panel discussion by means of an online live application, which was managed by the SCOPE 2018 organizing committee, Christoph Flicker, Sharadiya Kozak and Andreas Liegenfeld. This allowed for a variety of answers; the speakers contributed with their opinions on technology related ethics, recruitment, startups and the importance of soft skills.

On Tuesday, October 16th, the paper contest took place. The first phase occurred months before the congress, where more than a dozen participants sent their abstracts to our organizing committee. The abstracts were evaluated anonymously and the four best authors were picked to participate in the paper contest. The second phase occurred during the second day of SCOPE 18’, where these four participants had to present their papers in front of our two judges:
• Luis Lobianco, Technical Sales Engineer for Artificial Lift Systems at Schlumberger, Vienna, Austria.
• Prof. Dr. Herbert Hoffstater, Head of Petroleum Production and Geothermal Energy Recovery Chair at the DPE, Montanuniversitat Leoben, Austria.
The judges evaluated the participants on their presentation skills, their scientific knowledge and on their ability to answer theirs and the audience’s questions.

The ranking of the winner is as follows:
First Place: Hilali Maher
Second Place: Clemens Rainer
Third Place: Artem Karimov
Fourth Place: Alexandra Oberemok

The Student Petroquiz was hosted in the Erzherzog-Johann Auditorium. There was a setup with two teams on stage per round and with a table per team. Three members made up each team. The questions were announced by Mr. Georg Seidl from OMV and Ines Smaoui. The teams started out strongly. However, they started guessing at questions in later stages and members from the audience described as “Jokers” came to the rescue. Eventually, the team “Perdido” emerged as the triumphant winners.

At 6:00 p.m., the Student Congress of Petroleum Engineering Closing and Award Ceremony took place at the Erzherzog-Johann-Trakt Auditorium. It was indeed a great honor and joy and privilege to have Mr. Alexander Gerstner and Prof. Herbert Hofstätter with us and to witness their encouraging speeches as well as their motivational words that pushes as petroleum engineers in general and SPE members specifically to work more for the benefit of our SPE Student Chapter and university. Speeches were followed by an award ceremony for our Paper Contest and Student Petroquiz winners. Each participant was handed a certificate of acknowledgment and other gifts as cash prizes or souvenirs from Leoben and the Montanuniversität of Leoben.

After two successful days of Panel Discussions, Keynote speeches and student contests, an after party was launched at Bodega Central Dancing Leoben. It was a great opportunity for SCOPE participants and organizers to spend more time together and enjoy the last day of the congress before they left on a field trip to OMV Aktiengesellschaft facilities and the head office, hosted by the SPE Vienna Basin Section on Wednesday, October 17th. We hopped on a bus, heading towards Gänserndorf, where OMV-Austria’s Exploration and Production activities are headquartered. The first stop was the in-house core storage facility, where some 50.000 meters of cores from OMV’s assets all over the world are stored and examined. Next stops included the corrosion and metallurgical testing facility, where we got an insight into a lot of different corrosion problems occurring when producing, transporting and refining hydrocarbons. After this, we got a very interesting tour through the water testing lab, EOR lab and PVT lab.
After a delicious lunch in the canteen in Gänserndorf, we resumed with a bus tour through the oil fields around Gänserndorf guided by Well Delivery Manager and SPE VBS President Alexander Gerstner. As we were rolling through the smooth landscape of lower Austria, we got a glance on numerous sucker rod pumps, the water treatment plant in Schönkirchen, gathering stations, EOR facilities, a drilling rig, gas storage facilities and the desulfurization plant in Aderklaa. Furthermore, Mr. Gerstner was giving us an overview of OMV’s history in the regions and some future plans.
Our last stop was the brand-new 3D-Visualization Room in OMV’s head office in Vienna. With this state-of-the-art piece of technology, geologists can visualize complex geological formations and find potential oil and gas deposits that are yet to be drilled.
At this point, we really want to thank the SPE Vienna Basin Section and especially Alexander Gerstner for organizing the field trip and showing us around OMV’s operation in the Vienna Basin. It was really a great experience. We want to especially thank all our sponsors, without their help this event would not have been possible:

Gold Sponsor:
PM Lucas Enterprises Limited

Silver Sponsors:
Greenwell
ILF Consulting Engineers Austria GmbH
Weingut Liegenfeld
MND
RAG & RDG
Schoeller Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment AG

Bronze Sponsors:
TDE Group GmbH
Sirius E.S.
Rohrer Group

Thank you all and see you at SCOPE 2020!

The Organizing Committee:

Christoph Flicker
Sharadiya Kozak
Andreas Liegenfeld

Annual student energy congress at the University of Zagreb

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.

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.

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.

PetroBowl Qualifier at East Meets West

About a week ago, the “East meets West” conference took place for the 8^th time. It was organized by AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Drilling, Oil and Gas as well as the AGH UST Student Chapter and was located in Krakow in Poland. The good reputation of the AGH University and the success of the EMW conference in previous years was already promising a great event.

Dozens of students from all over the world came to see and attend interesting and inspiring paper and poster presentations from different fields of study as well as different study levels. Entertaining Panel discussions about HSE aspects and women in O&G industry were held together with industry’s professionals. Several companies such as MOL Group, Schlumberger and Baker Hughes took their chance and came to present their companies and fields of business in an exciting career session. And last but not least there was this one quiz about petroleum industry – the regional PetroBowl Qualifier for Europe, North Sea, Russia and Caspian SPE Sections.

Markus Hofmeister, Alexis Koulidis, Robert Nitsche, Michael Nirtl, and Mathias Bayerl (left to right) proudly represented MUL at the PetroBowl Regional Qualifier at the EMW Congress in Krakow

The arrival and welcome at the accommodation was well organized and the conference kicked off with a meet-and-greet session or simple said a pub-crawl in the city center of Krakow. On Tuesday, the first official day of the event more and more students arrived and the conference was opened by Mr. Stanislaw Nagy, representative of AGH university and Mr. Mathias Meister, SPE representative and regional director.

Later on, the first student paper contest for undergraduates started and several students presented their research work about various topics of technical and economic nature. As part of the contest, our colleague from SPE Student Chapter Oliver Spenger held a great presentation on Big Data in which he explained why less data is sometimes more. For his excellent performance, he was awarded with the second place. Congratulations Oliver!

On Wednesday morning, the preliminaries of the PetroBowl Qualifier were scheduled. Twenty teams had to compete against each other in head-to-head quiz rounds in order to reach the best 16. Six teams were already set for the next round due to good performance in the previous year. The team from Montanuniversität Leoben participated for the first time ever in the PetroBowl tournament and had to start off against Aberdeen University in their preliminary round. Ignoring mathematics here, every team was 150% motivated and the atmosphere was overwhelming. With a sound performance, our team won and went to the next round where University of Miskolc waited for them. After another win in the afternoon session, Leoben proceeded to the quarterfinals and finished its PetroBowl business for that day.

A room full of tension during the match between Montanuniversitaet Leoben and the team from Politecnico di Torino

After a more or less short night out – priorities first – Leoben competed against Politecnico di Torino on Thursday afternoon. It was a thrilling match but in the end we won and qualified for the PetroBowl finals in San Antonio Texas. From there, all the pressure was gone and we had won dozens of fans already. In the semifinals, the last four teams competed against each other: Heriot Watt vs. AGH University & MU Leoben vs. Gubkin University. Additionally to those four teams, our friends from Stavanger University have qualified as well for the PetroBowl finals due to the Lucky Loser regulation. Congratulations!

With a solid performance, our colleagues managed to win against Gubkin University and made it to the final! In the other semifinal, AGH University defeated Heriot Watt University so that the final was made up of the host AGH University and our team from Leoben. The atmosphere was loaded

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

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!

Oil and Gas Horizons – a Success Story Continues…

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 having fun at the Round Table — 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 — 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!

Student Congress of Petroleum Engineering

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.

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 60^th 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.

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.

Airat Kashkarov – Winner Poster Contest SCOPE: PEfficiency 2016

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 60^th anniversary, and wish the department, its members and most all its students a bright future! To many more great years to come!

Adventures in the Middle East – ATCE 2016 in Dubai

From the 26^th -28^th of September professionals and students from around the world gathered in this wonderful city to address the future challenges that this industry has to face. Alongside of them were three members of the SPE Student Chapter Leoben, using this opportunity to participate in panel discussions, workshops and technical sessions. Besides that, there was also time for some sightseeing, networking and meeting some good friends from other student chapters. The following is the story about their visit.

On the 25^th of September Emirates EK 128 departed at 15:05 from Vienna International Airport and was heading to Dubai. The main reason for using Emirates was that this route is operated by an A 380 and Emirates offered some discount because they were the official partner airline of the conference. After 6 hours of flight we arrived in Dubai and spend the rest of the day in the hotel meeting some friends from overseas.

Monday the 26^th of September was the official starting day for the conference. During the opening ceremony the CEO of Saudi Aramco addressed the current issues in the industry and pointed out a possible solution for the future that included a concept for dealing with the low oil price. Afterwards a panel discussion took place. High ranked managers from different companies among them the CEOs of Schlumberger, Baker Hughes and the Kuwait Oil Company were discussing about the topic “E&P 2.0: Shaping the future“. The overall conclusion of this discussion was that every part of the industry has to adapt to the new environment because most likely this situation will last for a longer time.

In the afternoon the workshop “How to write a good technical paper” gave some useful insights into the procedure of successfully writing a paper and the whole reviewing process that is carried out if you submit a paper for an SPE Conference.

In the evening we spent our time with a sightseeing tour through the Dubai Mall. Finally, we made our way up to the 148^th floor of the Burj Khalifa which is currently the highest building in the world, with a total height of 828m. Afterwards we finished our day with dinner at TGI Fridays.

On the second day of the conference we participated in the leadership workshop. People from different industries amongst them 2010 SPE President Behrooz Fattahi taught us about the important difference between being a leader or a manager. Then we attended the Students Luncheon were Outstanding SPE Student Chapters and the PetroBowl Winners were honored by 2016 SPE-President Nathan Meehan. After lunch we toured through the exhibition and talked to some professionals to expand the personal network but also to get some people interested in our Student Chapter and the work we are doing here in Austria. The evening featured the Young Members Reception where a lot of students together with young professionals gathered and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere in one of the ball rooms of the convention center. Later went to the beach to relax after an interesting but also exhausting day at the conference.

On the final day of the conference we decided to leave earlier to explore the city of Dubai. By using the monorail, we went to the hotel “Atlantis” which is located on the world famous Palm Island. Afterwards we went to the Burj Al Arab. This world class hotel features a great bar located on the 27^th floor. It features an amazing view over the city of Dubai.

Finally, on the 29^th of September we left Dubai in the afternoon. Our journey had finally come to an end after 4 days in this amazing city. When the plane departed from the Dubai International Airport during the sunset we got a last glimpse on the city of Dubai and it is not going to be last.

Next year the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition is going to take place in San Antonio. We are already looking forward to it.

Opening Ceremony with 2016 SPE President D Nathan Meehan

Panel Discussion E&P 2.0: Shaping the Future

The highest building in the world: Burj Khalifa 828 metres

7th IGSC Geoscience Student Conference, Katowice – Poland

Koulidis and El-Aayi presented a poster for the Oil and Gas portion of the event titled, “Drilling Optimization with Payzone Drilling Simulator(TM) and Economic Analysis of Cost Reductions – A Case Study From Western Newfoundland, Canada.” The poster presentation illustrates a method for optimizing the drilling of an offset well to an already drilled explorational well, with an expected similar geological profile. Using Payzone Drilling Simulator(TM), the explorational wells geology is modeled and by the slight alteration of several drilling parameters, the offset well can be more optimally drilled. The economics of the explorational well were also modeled, and by incorporating the results of the drilling simulator, the new costs were determined for the offset well. For this Case Study, the results show that this method could be utilized for cost saving of $1.3 million (19% cost reduction) and saving of 16 days (25% reduction in effective drilling time).

Drilling Optimization with Payzone Drilling Simulator and Economic Analysis for Cost Reduction

EAGE Conference 2016 in Vienna

From the 30^th of May to the 2^nd of June the 78^th EAGE-Conference took place in Vienna. This conference is mainly dedicated to geologists, geophysicists and reservoir engineers, but in combination with the SPE EUROPEC this event provides a great frame for all the other petroleum engineering disciplines as well. Three students from the SPE Student Chapter Leoben visited the conference. This is a short summary about their visit.

On the 30^th of May the president of the EAGE-Organisation officially opened the conference. This was followed by a panel discussion. Representatives from the industry and the head of our university Dr. Eichlseder discussed about the opportunities for young people in the current crisis. Afterwards dinner was served in the exhibition area. The day was concluded by meeting our friends from the SPE Student Chapter RWTH Aachen.

On the second day the oral sessions and poster sessions started. As usual for such a conference it is impossible to visit all of them. Therefore the following paragraphs summarize the highlights during these days.

The session about Integrated Asset Development featured a presentation about the development of the Komsomolskoye field. This field is in a remote location in Kazakhstan and requires special approaches to develop it profitably. Further information can be found via the following link: The Komsomolskoye Field-Fast Track Development of a Remote Oilfield using a Blend of Horizontal and Vertical Wells

The poster session about source rocks featured one presentation about Light Hydrocarbons Geochemistry of Oils Trapped in the Austrian Foreland Basin. This topic is directly related to the Montanuiversitaet Leoben, because the study was carried out at the chair of Petroleum Geology. An extended abstract can be found via the following link: Light Hydrocarbons Geochemistry of Oils Trapped in the Austrian Foreland Basin

One of the best oral sessions was the one which was conducted by Christian Burgstaller from RAG. His topic was about using fluid level data to optimize production. A new and innovative system which was developed by RAG together with some other companies constantly measures the fluid level in the wellbore. The generated data can then be used directly to optimize the pump that produces from the wellbore. The original paper can be found via the following link: New Approaches of Using Fluid Level Data for Production Optimization and Reservoir Engineering Applications

Besides the technical and research parts, there were also enough opportunities for social events, especially for students. The student evening which took place at the campus of the University of Economics featured some traditional Austrian delights and music to get in touch with students from around the world.

For an additional fee it was also possible to visit the official conference evening in the Marx Hall. Austrian kitchen was combined with live music and a Waltz performance.

Finally if we make an overall conclusion about this event, we can say that it was a great opportunity to gather new experiences, grow the personal network and just enjoy the atmosphere.

If you want to find out about such a conference by yourself you need to be patient until next year. The 79^thEAGE Conference & Exhibition (12-15 June 2017) is going to be in Paris.

Conference Evening — Click on the Image to Open Gallery

SCOPE 2016

Within the frame of the 60 years anniversary of our Department of Petroleum Engineering, we will be able to provide an interesting mix of presentations and panel discussions with highly recognized industry representatives, a historical overview as well as a Poster Contest. Furthermore, there will be a wide variety of cultural events introducing you to some traditions typical to our university.

SCOPE: PEfficiency will take place from 11. – 13. October 2016 in venues at Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Austria.

The conference is dedicated to energy efficiency, hence the main topic is “New Technologies to Increase Energy Efficiency”.

For those of you who are interested, we are also happy to organize a sightseeing tour and a get-together evening in Vienna some days before our conference takes place! In that case, we will organize the accommodation, but we have to ask you to pay for it on your own.

Registration

>> Online registration is closed <<

On-site registration for 20 EUR per person will be available during the event.

For the on-site-registration please see the following time table:

Tuesday, October 11th, from 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. at Congress Leoben, Hauptplatz 1
Wednesday, October 12th, from 8 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. at Congress Leoben, Hauptplatz 1
Thursday, October 13th, from 7:30 a.m. – 9 a.m. at DPE Building, Parkstraße 27

General information on Austrian visas you can find here, an entire list of countries who don’t require a visa is here.

Poster Contest

We are looking forward to an exciting Poster Contest, covering the following subjects:

Drilling and Completion Engineering
Production Engineering
Reservoir Engineering
Field Development
Petroleum Geology
Geothermal Energy Recovery
Energy Efficiency

To submit you abstracts, or if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via

scope@speleoben.com

Call for abstracts is closed.

FAQ

As some questions about SCOPE: PEfficiency may arise, we have started a section for frequently asked questions: spe.dpe.ac.at/scopefaq

We hope to see you soon in Leoben!

Best regards,

The Organizing Committee

East meets West-Krakow at its best…

This year the 7th Edition of the famous East meets West Congress took place in Krakow. Students from all over the world followed the invitation of the AGH University of Science and Technology SPE Student Chapter. From the 20th of April to the 22nd of April all the participants were enjoying the hospitality and the great atmosphere in one of the most beautiful cities of Poland.

The journey to Krakow began on the 19th of April at 10 o’clock in the morning. 6 of us were going there by car. The rest of us arrived by plane on the same day. After successfully passing the border control in the Czech Republic and 7 hours driving we arrived at the dormitory in Krakow. After check-in we started a small city tour through the city centre of Krakow which ended in a famous polish restaurant. We ordered grilled ribs with a special honey-mustard sauce. After we finished it was time for the Ice-Breaker party. It didn’t take very long to break the ice because everybody was looking forward to meet some new people.

The next day started with the opening ceremony of the congress. A singing performance was accompanied by speeches from the organizers and university representatives. After the first coffee break, one of the congress highlights took place, a panel discussion with the topic “Managing the current economic situation in the Oil and Gas Industry”. Industry representatives and highly ranked experts gave insights and personal opinions about the reasons of the recent crisis. It was a highly interesting discussion with an overall positive message. That the oil prices are going to recover sooner or later. After lunch several different companies presented themselves to the students, such as Orlen Upstream, Ernst&Young, MOL and FMC Technologies. Before dinner we decided to explore the city of Krakow by ourselves. The day was concluded by a gala dinner where traditional polish cuisine was served.

The second day of the congress was dedicated to the student paper contest and the poster session. Students from different universities presented their research and showed the great diversity of the petroleum industry. After lunch the poster session took place. Two posters from students of the Montanuniversitaet Leoben were presented. Florian Gamperl presented his research “Drilling Rate Models for PDC Bits”. Christian Mudrak and Nicola Zivelonghi presented their research in the field of reservoir engineering with the title “Flow Behaviour Investigation of a Sandstone Reservoir”. The judges and also the other students were satisfied by the work of the presenters. Later that day we decided to go on a Segway tour to visit the Jewish Quarter of Krakow. Our guide gave us a historic overview about the development of the Jewish community in Krakow and their very sad history during the Second World War. Our day was concluded with dinner in a steak restaurant.

On the final day of the congress PhD students had the chance to present their current research. Not only technical, but also questions about socio-economic growth were raised during this session and led to some interesting discussion which even continued into the coffee break. After the coffee break, the closing and awarding ceremony was held. It was great to see when Christian Mudrak and Nicola Zivelonghi from our university received the first price in the poster competition. Finally, the congress was over but this doesn’t mean that it was time to leave. There was one more evening to be spend in Krakow. Therefore, we decided to visit an alt mine which is located a few kilometres outside of Krakow. The Wieliczka salt mine is 700 years old and it is one of the most famous mines in Europe. The route for tourists brings you to a depth of 135 metres under ground. On the way several sculptures made out of salt can be seen. One of the highlights in the mine is the underground chapel. This time we decided to have our dinner in the Hardrock Cafe of Krakow. Finally we had one more night to spent time with the wonderful people we met here.

There is this saying that departing is never easy but you have to leave to come back. Therefore, we left Krakow with new friendships, great experiences and without a doubt that we are going to come back.

We would like to thank the students of the AGH University of Science and Technology SPE Student Chapter for their hospitality and the amazing program they have prepared for us. It was a great pleasure to be able to participate in this great event and we are looking forward to be back in Krakow in 2017.

East Meets West – A Personal Success Story

With great inputs for discussion, knowledge sharing the congress has not only proven to be a great place to meet new people and to network but it was also the perfect opportunity to bring together old friends. Nicola travelled from Vienna to Krakow whereas Christian made his way from the north, since he is currently doing an exchange at NTNU in Trondheim. The reunion included typical Leoben traditions (beer J) but also the final preparation for our poster presentation. In fact, as most of the other participants were enjoying dinner, we were sitting in our hotel room rehearsing and trying to figure out the most salient points to address in front of the jury. Certainly we joined the party afterwards, but business before pleasure!

The first day of the congress was highlighted by the debate “Managing the current economic situation in the Oil & Gas Industry” and the career session featuring Orlen Upstream, EY, MOL Group, and FMC technologies. On the second day of the congress it was our turn. We presented the results from our “Flow Behaviour Investigation of a Sandstone Reservoir”, research that we had carried out as part of our bachelors programme related to a geological field study. It describes how we developed an outcrop-analogue reservoir model from a mapped geological area. After carrying out a flow simulation using this model, we investigated the different effects of changing scenarios (water injection pressure, viscosity as well as density of oil and water phase). Additionally we accounted for uncertainties running a probabilistic calculation of the stock tank original oil in place.

The posters were put up in the exhibition area and visitors as well as the jury walked from one work to the next in order to ask questions and inform themselves about the conducted research. A total of twenty different posters were presented at the congress also featuring “Drilling Rate Models for PDC Bits” by Florian Gamperl, one of our colleagues from Leoben. The posters included drilling, reservoir, production, geology, petrophysics, and even refinery topics leaving the judges with the fairly difficult task to rank them. Among other criteria poster appearance, innovativeness and laboratory research were accounted for. Unfortunately we did not have a lot of time ourselves to see all the other posters, and to talk to with their authors, which we would really have appreciated.

Christian Mudrak & Nicola Zivelonghi next to their poster presentation

At the lasts day’s closing ceremony one presenter after the other was called on stage. Although being confident with our performance we were astonished to be called out as the winners of this year’s poster competition. We felt relieved and proud when receiving the award Even now, a few days after the event, these feelings are still present. Hereby we want to express our gratitude to the organizing committee again, and to our guides who took such care of us in Krakow. It was great to be part of the event! Additionally we want to thank the SPE Student Chapter Leoben for their support.

In conclusion, we really want to encourage fellow students to step up and present their work at one of the several possibilities. As a member one can benefit from SPE in so many ways but entering the stage will give you additional attention and a whole new level of interaction with other students, scientists, and industry professionals.

Catch a Glimpse of Two Conferences in Norway

Let me start this story from very far and very abstraction! People often think that petroleum engineering and especially drilling is a field where everything goes just so smooth and easy and it is an easy engineering field compared to i.e. computer engineering or even to reservoir engineering where most of the things are abstract, therefore every term or idea feels highly technical. I think it is totally wrong because of the following: the involved risks and other unknown and uncontrollable factors create an environment where there is no room for failure.

I’ve always been obsessed with blowouts. Not because of their catastrophic consequences (that is kind of sad actually) but a blowout really shows to us what powers, risks and consequences we are possibly and directly dealing with in petroleum engineering. These consequences are highly undervalued (or at least were back in the days before Macondo) and the vast majority of the industry is “only” focusing on the prevention of these possible risks and realization of consequences. I believe that it is not the right way to deal with it and avoid future events like the first and (so far) last. This is the reason why I spent my entire summer sitting in my room and trying to understand how that particular blowout was stopped, what options we would have today, and how it would be possible to get better.

And now comes the understandable part!

I have attended two major conferences in the last 10 days in Stavanger and Bergen in Norway helped by the department.

In the first couple of days I have been participating in the second industry wide HSSE Challenge in Stavanger during the 16th SPE International Conference and Exhibition on Health, Safety, Security, Environment and Social Responsibility. It was a particularly good conference and event since many of the young professionals can come together, meet each other and see what knowledge level we have. Seven teams were participating in the HSSE challenge which had 3 sections: Health, Safety and Security, and Social Responsibility. During each sections 2 or 3 teams were facing each other by getting numerous “fast questions” regarding the given section’s most important abbreviations, terms, regulations, general concepts.

After the challenge, every team has been awarded by ExxonMobil with valuable gifts and a confirmation of participation sheet signed by Nathan Meehan and the CEO of SPE. Ah, and of course, Nathan Meehan has also made a selfie with some of us!

On the next day, I could also take a day visit at Statoil’s Business center where I could introduce my Subsea Petroleum Containment System concept (which I has been working on in the last couple of months next to the paper) and participate in numerous speed datings and presentations. It was also a great venue. The meeting at Statoil is maybe projecting a viable way forward for us to be more innovative: come up with startup ideas, concepts, share openly with others, learn from each other, get more entrepreneurial spirit, make a company and change PE for the better.

Next to the whole day programs of course there was a bit of time for fun. The Stavanger Oil Museum is a great place to understand offshore and petroleum engineering.

After leaving Stavanger, the more interesting part of the journey came for me since I have been invited to present my second OnePetro registered publication on the SPE One Day Seminar in Bergen. As I mentioned in the second block, I have been working on this paper for a quite a lot of time, here is the story why and how: we had Offshore Technology lecture last year, and in the last section of it we had a lecture with John Turley who walked us through how the Macondo blowout has occurred. It was an amazing presentation. Then, before the lunch break during Q&A, I asked that what happened after the blowout has started: “how did they solve it? Are we going to cover it too?”

He replied something like this:

No, we are not going to talk about it since there are a load of sources available about it and focus should go on prevention, to prevent events in the future by learning and identifying the reasons of failure.

So, I walked into this after I got back home. I went looking at OnePetro but could not find anything, anything at all. I was particularly interested in how and what the industry learned. I could not accept that we should focus on “only” prevention since I believe the biggest tragedy of Macondo is that it still affects the everyday life of nature and millions of humans by the contaminated areas in the Gulf of Mexico. Then, I kept looking and the capping stacks came into the picture and then after a couple of weeks I found not much, but a bit of sources on how the problem was solved, what technologies, what culture represented the approach and then more and more things came into the picture… I came to the conclusion that this field is highly under-researched and the actual technology (namely the capping stack as the centerpiece of response capabilities) nowadays may not be the ideal solution. Then, I came up with a technical concept, which I was then able to present in Aberdeen and recently in Stavanger, and I also carried out a research focusing on what and how the stop of the outflow has happened, and what are the possible ways forward.

So, the paper was born, and the first conference I found was in Bergen. Then, I submitted an abstract, and I got in! It was a great feeling and a great payback for the interest of mine.

The EPoster presentation went well, attendees appreciated the work. The seminar has also held good other presentations on i.e. heavy kill muds and oil based mud kick recognition.

As a learning I can only encourage you to do what you love, where you think you have no limits, where you are unstoppable. Just do it, and it will turn out to be good, if you really like what you do. Do not afraid of failures, have courage to write, this paper has its very own failures too, but hopefully I will have a chance to make it better, or continue on this field. Regarding a specific conference paper. Work on those nasty sentences, make your thoughts the world and SPE is interested in your view. When you have something meaningful it is easier to share than you think.

The paper is available here to download (download it from school, it is free there) from OnePetro.org:
Subsea Blowout Source Control Technologies Utilized at the Macondo Accident and Developments in the Post-Macondo Era
Document ID: SPE-180018-MS
Written by David Thomas Kutas, BSc; Philip Bailey, MSc and Michael Prohaska, PhD.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/180018-MS

Student Technical Conference 2016

The annual “Student Technical Conference” is a 2-day event with up to 100 participants. It has grown over the last 11 years of its existence and established itself as the premier such event in Germany for upstream oil and gas. The STC is a technical conference with 14 student-presentations, key-note speakers and poster presentations. There will be a Young Professionals Panel with engineers already in the industry and many opportunities for networking.

The STC also functions as a mini job-fair for Petroleum Engineering and related Geoscience students.

For further information and the application form, use the flyer and/or visit the STC 2016 page.

Why should you attend?

As a student

Learn about upstream research done elsewhere
Network with other students
Find job-opportunities

As an industry representative

Meet Petroleum and Geoscience students close to graduation
Get informed about the topics researched in academia

Support for students

Enable students to participate and to perform a presentation or present a poster. (one night’s accommodation and reasonable transportation cost will be reimbursed).

08-July-2016: Deadline for abstracts

Leoben Goes Zagreb

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 8^th

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 9^th

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 10^th

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 11^th

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 12^th

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 3^rd 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)

1st International Oil and Gas Majoring Students Forum

The first International Oil and Gas Majoring Students Forum “New Generation: Across the Universe” was held from February 28^th to March 6^th 2016 in the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas in Moscow. The main aim of this forum was to bring together the world’s best students studying different branches of oil and gas sciences, so they can share their knowledge and experience.

28^th of February 2016

On the 28^th of February we arrived at 14:30 at the airport in Moscow. The country greeted us with beautiful sunny weather and a little bit of snow. From there on we were brought to the dormitory by car. We finished the day with the famous Borscht, a traditional Russian soup.

29^th of February 2016

The second day of this event started with the opening ceremony at the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas. Afterwards the Schlumberger Business Case was held. In this friendly competition teams consisting of at least 4 people needed to solve a complex task regarding the production of Gas Condensates in a limited amount of time. The event took the rest of the day, and in the end the team of our German friends from RWTH Aachen won the competition. In the evening a gala dinner was held. The dinner was accompanied by some great performances of Russian students.

1^st of March 2016

This day was planned to give the students a better view on actual business problems and how the industry is going to change in the future. New technologies and the most prospective areas all over the world were introduced by world class experts. After lunch, the so called “Career Fair” was held. In this event groups of students had the opportunity to see departments of the university and listen to the latest achievements in the scientific work of universities personnel. One of the most impressive parts was the department for transportation which showed their brand new simulator for pipeline dispatching training, as well as the drilling ship simulator, which some of our students had the chance to visit last year already.

The day was concluded by the “Russian Cuisine festival”. This delicious event gave the unique opportunity to taste different foods from regions all over Russia and other countries. Afterwards it was time for some Ice skating. All the participating students were playing games, trying out ice hockey and enjoyed the great atmosphere.

2^nd of March 2016

After the wake-up call, busses brought us to the city centre of Moscow. There we visited one of Russia’s brightest buildings, the Kremlin. Inside the Kremlin it was time for some history. Local guides from the Museum explained the fascinating Russian history to all of us. The end of the day was concluded with the Miss University Contest 2016. At this event 10 beautiful ladies representing the different departments of the university were competing against each other, to crown their self in the end with the title “Queen of Oil”. Amazing artistic skills, singing and even acting performances showed the great diversity of skills that all these women have.

3^rd of March 2016

Early in the morning we packed up our suitcases and got onto the buses because it was time to go to Zaluchie. After 6 hours on the bus we arrived there and were welcomed with some traditional Russian bread. After getting comfortable with our rooms, the winter camp in Zaluchie was opened with another Russian speciality, a small cup of Vodka. Afterwards it was time for some open air activities. Sliding down a hill, pillow fight, rope pulling and dancing were accompanied by some traditional Russian Music.

4^th of March 2016

The second day in Zaluchie was used to provide us with some meaningful talks about the way to success, how to prepare a scientific paper and the technical presentation part afterwards. After enjoying some free time in the Russian winter, a wonderful performance of horse riding together with some traditional Russian winter games made this evening really unique. Finally the closing ceremony was held which marked the official end of this forum. Nevertheless in the evening the great celebration continued and the day ended with a disco night.

5^th of March 2016

Waking up was hard after enjoying such a great evening until 3 o’clock in the morning. Nevertheless the breakfast was the best reason to get up earlier. After breakfast we were waiting for the busses while enjoying the Russian winter one last time. Then we got onto the busses which brought us directly to the dormitory in Moscow.

6^th of March 2016

Our plane left at 15:35 from Moscow Domodedovo to Vienna. This was the final end of this great journey.

We would like to thank the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas for providing us with this unique opportunity. It was really amazing to see how much effort went into the preparation of this Forum. All of the volunteers were great and gave everything they had to make this event unbelievable.

Finally speaking from the heart, leaving Moscow was hard after this great experience. Nevertheless it doesn’t felt if there was something left back. It felt much more like each and every participant and Russia itself gave us something valuable which we could take back home.

This is what makes this event so special. It shows that it is not about the price of oil, it is about all of us and there is no hurdle we cannot take if we work together without any borders.

To finish this there is only one more thing to say. The idea that was started at this forum is going to spread out all over the world and not only the world, it’s going to be spread across the universe.

2016 IPTC Education Week

The 10th edition of the International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC) – one of the world’s foremost oil and gas events – will be held from 14-16 November 2016 at the Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld in Bangkok, Thailand. An Education Week will be held for the benefit of the best 3rd and 4th year undergraduate students in science, geoscience and engineering from qualified institutions around the world. It is anticipated that 100 of the best students will be selected to participate in the Education Week. IPTC will cover travel and accommodation expenses for the selected students.

All students nominated must:

Be enrolled in full time, undergraduate education until spring/summer semester 2017.
Have an excellent level of written and spoken English.
Must obtain permission to be away from their studies from 12 to 16 November 2016 including travel days.
Must demonstrate in evidence that they are in the top 20% of their class.

Please submit your application with your transcript until 01.03.2016, 8 a.m. to events.spe@leoben.org, all applications will be processed further the Head of the Department Petroleum Engineering, who finally will nominate 4 students. These students will then receive an official IPTC application link and must register themselves until 04.03.2016. The online application form includes uploading of transcripts, personal statement, academic background, career objectives and reasons for wanting to attend Education Week, so prepare them in advance.

For further information please visit http://www.iptcnet.org/2016/index.php

Kind regards,
Your SPE Student Chapter Leoben

Leoben SPE Representative at IPTC 2015 in Qatar

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.

Continue reading Leoben SPE Representative at IPTC 2015 in Qatar

Visiting Oil and Gas Horizons 2015

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

22.November 2015

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

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

23.November 2015

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

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

24.November 2015

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

25.November 2015

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

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

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

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

26.November 2015

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

27.November 2015

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

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

Student Technical Conference – Wietze, Germany for the 10th Time

The Student Technical Conference held by the SPE German Section was scheduled for November, 2015. Many industry professionals, internationally recognized companies were represented. Despite of the quite harsh environment in the petroleum industry right now, STC was held for the 10th time in 2015.

The two days long conference had provided excellent opportunities for students and industry professionals for networking, getting more information on internships and job possibilities and for many students the first real opportunity to share their interest, work with others.

STC 2015 had been a major success for Leobner students too, because compared to the last couple of years when only 1-2 students had the chance to represent MUL, this year 8 students had been able to show what they were working on during their studies and free time.

Gallery

Ingo Forstner's welcome words — Ingo Forstner’s welcome words

David Kutas with his poster presentation - Subsea Petroleum Containment System — David Kutas with his poster presentation – Subsea Petroleum Containment System

Haiwad Ahmad is presenting about Downhole Fluid Analysis

Follow our website to get more information about the upcoming SPE provided possibilites.

Offshore Europe 2015

Aberdeen, Scotland is located on the coast of the North Sea – the city is the third most populous city in Scotland, and the biggest rival in the run for the oil capital of Europe name against Stavanger, Norway.

Offshore Europe is the PE industry’s largest offshore related exhibition and conference. The world most important service companies, other entities come together there to show the world the newest technologies and impress each other. This year, stress was laid on how the petroleum industry can inspire young generation to help sustain and develop the industry to meet new challenges.

From the perspective of a graduate student, the 4-day-long event can also contain many interesting impressions because with even a short visit in the exhibition you can feel and understand how different industry entities are working, or how new players would like to enter the industry. Understanding different technologies, techniques explained by industry experts, or introduced by field-working technicians through real-life or real-size prototypes and models are also providing a particular experience.

Moreover, the conference part of venue is also very relevant and interesting. Since Macondo, more and more stress is laid on HSE, this is a field which is evolving, developing more quickly than anything else despite of the petroleum price downfall.

More information:

SPE OE 2015 Conference Papers – OnePetro.org
Offshore Europe 2015 – Official Website

The Future Petroleum Engineers Forum

China University of Petroleum, Beijing (CUP), is located in a scenic region of tourist interest in Changping District, Beijing, about 5 miles to the Ming Tombs and 15 miles to the Great Wall. CUPB offers not only engineering programs in oil and gas science including chemical engineering, petroleum engineering, geoscience and mechanical and electronic engineering, but also, in computer science, business management and Chinese Language Study programs of a full range from diploma, bachelor and master to doctoral programs.

The main goal of this short visit was to strengthen relations with Beijing’s SPE SC and other student chapters from all over the world and get ideas and inputs about hosting a forum as a SPE Student Chapter. The well organized FPEF was rounded up by a cultural night to strengthen cultural exchange where all participant were asked to dress in traditional costumes and each chapter to prepare one or two shows. Excursions were planned that offered all students at the last days a day tour in Beijing as well a trip to the great wall.

This student conference visit shall serve as a great motivation for our current and future members of our SPE Student Chapter Leoben to participate in our events and also in the organization of such trips and increase the connection among other chapters.

Group picture I — Click/Tap on picture to open gallery

OPEC Presentation

The event took place in Erzherzog Johann Auditorium, which was filled with interested and eager students. It started with a brief introduction on the origins and history of OPEC, delivering key insight to its former and ongoing operations and aims. Afterwards the annual bulletin was presented and the event concluded with an insightful Q & A session.

It was a very intriguing and insightful event, providing a glimpse into one of the biggest and most important organizations in the oil & gas industry. Thus, we would like to extend a big thank you to OPEC and its representatives. Further, we would like to acknowledge the great work of our dear colleague Hasnaa Lamik, who made the event possible.