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

PetroQuiz at VBS SPE Annual BBQ

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.

Field Trip to the Netherlands

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

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.

Constantin GH. Popa Paper & Poster Contest 9th-Edition

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.

Field Trip to Romania

As we learned it through our journey, Romania was one of the first producers and exporters of oil worldwide and remains one of the largest producers of oil and gas in Europe. We got help from our friends and colleagues from the Romanian SPE Section and OMV Petrom in order to successfully organize this trip. Staying in the center of Bucharest gave us the opportunity to enjoy the culture and lifestyle of the city, eventhough it meant a longer time on the road to reach our various, yet interesting destinations.

On April 24^th, the group visited Petrom City to meet with our hosts, the SPE Romania Section Representative, Dr. Gherghiceanu, and the SPE Student Chapter from University of Ploiesti. An alumnus from Monanuniversität Leoben, who is now one of the professionals working within Petrom, stopped by to say hello to the current visiting students. Dr. Gherghiceanu gave a presentation about the various operations in Romania in addition to the history of oil and gas within the country. We also received our PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) in order to use them throughout the entire week.

Visiting Petrom City and meeting young professionals from the Romania Section

Shortly thereafter, the group was able to visit an active drilling operation, 947 Viforata. Drilling was completed on the well, but students were able to see the process of finishing the well. The managers on site were able to give a tour through all the sections and laboratories on the rig site, in addition to introducing the group to the Weatherford employees contracted to run the well logging operation of the well.

On April 25^th and 26^th, the group was split into two small ones. They both visited different locations (Location A and Location B) and changed the next day so everyone could have the opportunity to fully enjoy the program.

Location A :

The first group was able to visit the geological wonder of the Berca Mud Volcanoes in Scortoasa. These mud volcanoes are the result of gas erupting from a depth of 3000 metres, which pushes up clay and water and results in the formation of the mud volcanoes. The gas is released via bubbles, so the mud is constantly bubbling. The surrounding area looks akin to a desolate lunar landscape, but it is actually a botanical reservation for certain plants. But, as many know petroleum engineers love mud so it wasn’t a problem. The group was also able to visit a Compressor facility in Barbuncesti field and learn in details the steps of the process.

The group in front of the compressor station

Location B:

The highlight of the trip was the visit to Sarata Monteoru. It is one of the oldest operations in Romania, but it isn’t a conventional reservoir. This reservoir is produced utilizing the methods of open pit mining. It’s the last oil mine in existence worldwide. A maximum of 12 visitors can be in the mine at any time, and unfortunately pictures are not allowed due to the amount of gas in the air. The mine is only accessible via an elevator shaft, which is meant to transport four people at a time to two different shafts at a depth of 300m below the surface. As soon as you enter the mine you can smell the oil and see it seeping out from the rock. You are, quite literally, surrounded by oil. The oil in the mine is produced via air injection in addition to the sophisticated technique of scooping oil out of holes. Not a lot of oil is produced, but Petrom uses it mainly for educational purposes. It was certainly educational to see the one active sucker rod pump in the mine producing a literal pond of oil. It was too deep for us to walk through since the oil came up to the knees. The entire experience really brought to life the material students learn throughout their collegiate career.

On Thursday the 27^th, we headed to Ploiesti to visit our friends, the UPG Ploiesti SPE Student Chapter, and to tour the university facilities. We were able to see the numerous labs utilized by the students at University of Ploiesti in order to further their understanding of petroleum engineering. The most remarkable lab was the Drilling Simulation laboratory, which was a mock drilling floor. It contained all the equipment one would find on any rig, and the school uses it for educational and training purposes. The final stop of the day was at a National Oilwell Varco (NOV) facility. The representatives of NOV gave a presentation about the various equipment and components they design for drilling and production operations. The visit concluded with a tour of the equipment in the warehouse.

Meeting our colleagues from the University of Ploesti

The 28^th of April was spent at ICPT Campina, which is the research and development branch of Petrom. It was primarily a facility tour so we were able to see all the labs where core testing is conducted. We were also lucky enough to meet some of the lead researchers at the institute. The excursion was concluded with a visit to Bran Castle, which is more commonly known as the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s infamous novel, Dracula.

The organizers enjoying Dracula's Castle at the end of the field trip — The organizers enjoying Dracula’s Castle at the end of the field trip

We conclude this article by thanking all the professionals at Petrom, the SPE Romanian Section, including our dear friends at the UPG Ploiesti SPE Student Chapter, NOV, and ICPT Campina for their warm welcome and for taking the time to show us around the country and the facilities, our friends from the Petroleum Engineering Student Representation for their help and support during the organizational process and finally, a big thank you to all the participants who filled this educational journey with fun and joy.

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!

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!

Field Trip to OMV Refinery and SBO

Arriving there we were greeted by Mr Martin Müller, our tour guide. At first we were invited into the meeting room for a presentation about the refinery, giving us not only a good overview of the processes that happen in a refinery, but also about the in- and output of the refinery, as well as some interesting statistics.

For example, did you know that despite Austria’s reputation of producing hardly any oil 10% of the oil processed in Schwechat actually comes from the oil fields in Lower Austria? Or did you know where the by far largest amount of oil refined in Austria comes from? (If not, you’re probably not the only one. The correct answer is Kazakhstan, by the way.). All the imported oil, we learned today, comes to Austria via pipelines from Trieste in Italy. To transfer the same amount of oil by truck, more than 900 trucks would be required to travel the distance – per day!

Now that we knew where the crude oil comes from, we could start following its course through the refinery. The first step – after leaving the storage tanks (which can store three months’ worth refining, equaling about 2.4 million tons) – is distillation. The crude gets heated up, thus separating its constituents due to the different boiling points. Since the oil is often contaminated, for example with acid components like Sulphur, it has to be sweetened, i.e. the sour components need to be removed in order to avoid corrosion as well as other problems, e.g. harmful exhaust fumes.

Since the refinery cannot create the products in the same proportions as they are required, the distilled and desulphurized products are “upgraded”. This includes thermal and chemical treatments such as cracking and reforming, where the output can be precisely controlled via the operation parameters. This allows to adjust the refinery output to the actual consumer needs. In the case of Schwechat, this is about 40% diesel oil, 20% gasoline (Yes, we actually consume nearly twice as much diesel than gasoline in Austria!) and 10% jet fuel and petrochemicals each. The remaining 20% of the refinery output include for example hydrocarbon products such as bitumen and asphalt, LPG or CNG and byproducts such hydrogen, Sulphur or sulphuric acid, products that are required in large amounts by other industry branches, such as the steel industry.

The last step in the refinery process is the so-called blending. Individual fractions are recombined to achieve certain properties and specifications, such as the octane number for gasoline fuels, or freezing points (for example diesel composition varies between summer and winter to guarantee an optimum efficiency while not risking that the fuel freezes). OMV applies an in-line blending system, which means that the different semi-products are not mixed in a tank using a huge impeller to avoid separation, but by feeding different semi-products directly into the pipes. This has the advantage of being more efficient and at the same time achieving a more homogeneous product.

The now finished products are ready for shipping. They are pumped to the tank farms in Lobau (Vienna), St. Valentin (Upper Austria) or directly to the close-by airport (only jet fuel). From there, they are either distributed onwards using ships, trucks or trains, or directly sold to the consumers.

Passing by refinery on the way to the airport, it appears needless to say that such a plant consumes a lot of energy. Hence OMV has its own power plant on site. The energy created is not only consumed in the refinery itself, but also sold to the surrounding towns. Furthermore, OMV uses the heated water and steam to produce energy, and they also to provide the heat for heating homes and the airport.

Mr Müller also talked about the investments OMV makes to reduce the environmental footprint, and to make the refining process greener. This includes not only converting the generated heat, hot process water and the electricity as energy on site and in the surrounding area, but also the implementation of new technologies, such as the recent reactor upgrade or the ButaMax facility. This facility produces butadiene, a substance required for producing rubber (e.g. for tires). Furthermore, many other industry branches that rely on refinery products, semi- or byproducts are located next to the refinery, rendering transportation nearly unnecessary. For example, Borealis, who produce polymers, are located right beside the refinery itself.

After this presentation, packed with lots of information, we were glad to have a short coffee break before entering the bus and getting the opportunity to see all those facilities we had just heard about in operations. In about 45 minutes, we got a good impression not only of the immense size of the refinery, but also about the facilities it hosts, and their basic working principles.

Soon it was time for lunch, and then to travel back to Leoben, although we encountered a little surprise on our way back…

2016 SPE Student Chapter Gold Standard

The SPE Mining University of Leoben Student Chapter has been awarded the Gold Standard designation for 2016 by the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

The Mining University of Leoben Student Chapter has earned the Gold Standard, in recognition of its exceptional programs in industry engagement, operations and planning, community involvement, professional development and innovation.

Continue reading 2016 SPE Student Chapter Gold Standard

RAG Facility Tour – Austria’s Oldest Oil Field

We arrived in Zistersdorf after driving through the picturesque Lower Austrian wine (and oil) region Weinviertel, and were welcomed at RAG’s field office by their Head of Reservoir Management Michael Krassnitzer and the Geologist Hans-Gert Linzer. Our students got an interesting introduction to both the company and the geology of the Gaiselberg field – a peculiar field in several regards:

Due to its status of being a “Grubenfeld” (With its almost 80 years, the Gaiselberg field is one of the oldest oil fields in Austria.), the operator does not have to pay royalties, which is a big advantage at low oil prices; furthermore, the field is very well drilled despite its small size – more than 90 wells on only 4 square kilometers! This is necessary due to a very complex geology caused by the famous Steinberg fault.

After enjoying lunch in the office building, we were taken to several facilities in the environs of Zistersdorf, following the oil production from the well to the export lines. Our first stop was the Gaiselberg 86 well and the central production facilities close by. The SPE members got an impression of how the produced oil is separated from the (unfortunately much more) water and the gas. RAG pursues a very efficient way of using the produced fluids to a maximum: The gas is sold locally to be turned into electrical power, whereas the water is cleaned and reinjected into the reservoir. And most importantly the oil – the black gold is metered and pumped to the tank farm close to the refinery in Schwechat. The whole trip through the production facilities was accompanied by the favorite smell of our students – the smell of crude oil at noon.

Our next stop was RAG’s own workshop, where a few mechanics do repair jobs on almost all the tools RAG uses in the field. Packers, polished rods or tubing anchors – you name it, they repair them there! This gave our group the unique opportunity of seeing a great variety of standard oil field tools hands on, and have their functionality explained to us by those who know best, the people who use them day by day.

The highlight of the excursion was the visit of the Gaiselberg 1 well, Austria’s oldest producing well! Located on a gentle hill, this gave our group a view of the beauty of Lower Austria. Moreover, we took the opportunity to get to know two innovations of RAG. Firstly, we were introduced to one of Prof. Hofstätter’s inventions, a small electrical device which rotates the sucker rod string in order to allow for a more uniform wear on the rod string. After that, the students could hear about the MURAG system. This innovative system sold to companies all around the world provides continuous measurement of the fluid level inside a well.

Concluding our trip to Lower Austria, the SPE group went to a tank farm in Zistersdorf. There we heard about the necessity of storing crude oil for emergency situations. Moreover, we were shown the fully automated fire extinguishing system on the tanks.

We would like to thank RAG for their warm welcome and their hospitality. Without your sponsorship and your great team of guides, this truly amazing excursion would not have been possible!

Main Excursion 2016: Hamburg, Germany

Finally, by the mid of May our plane took off to the North. For sure we had to start our trip with a night out at the famous ‘Reeperbahn’, although getting up the next day was really hard. However, on the second day we went to the warehouse district and as well did a harbor cruise. We all were fascinated by the huge redbrick houses and the hurly-burly of the harbor life. Especially the ‘Elbphilharmonie’, which is going to be a huge concert hall, is worth a look.

On the third day we finally started our petroleum related trips and first went to the ‘Erdöl Museum’ in Wietze. It was really nice so all the old equipment and compare it to the techniques we use nowadays. As soon-to-be professionals we even were allowed to go on an old land rig, which is built up in front of the museum. The next day half of us went to visit the Fangmann Group in Salzwedel, where we heard a lot of interest facts about energy services. The other half of us had to get up really early. It was the first day to visit the ‘Mittelplate’ Offshore Platform, which clearly was going to be a highlight of our trip. The platform is equally run by two german companies, DEA and Wintershall. Per year the Mittelplate oilfield produces around 1,4 million tons of oil. We had the chance to talk to the workers in the dog house while they were drilling, as well as see every other important part of the platform before the boat took us back to Cuxhaven in the evening. On our last day the second eight students went offshore, while the rest got the opportunity to spend a day with the professionals from the DEA headquarters in Hamburg, which was the perfect closure for our field trip.

A big thank you goes to all the students who took part, and especially to the companies, which made it possible to explore the petroleum world of Northern Germany in only five days.

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

SPE SC Leoben Field Trip to Russia

This year’s SPE Student Chapter Leoben Field Trip brought 15 students, enrolled in both the undergraduate (B.Sc.) and graduate (M.Sc. and Ph.D.) programs to Russia. The goal of the trip was to get to know how students live and study in two of the most famous Russian Petroleum Universities, namely Moscow’s Gubkin University and the Ufa State Petroleum Technological University.

The first destination of our multinational group was the Russian capital, Moscow. Welcomed and guided by our colleagues of Gubkin University’s SPE Student Chapter, our students got not only the opportunity of visiting some of Moscow’s most famous sights, such as the Red Square, the famous Moscow Kremlin and the Cosmonautics Museum, but also the Russian State Petroleum University (РГУ нефти и газа им. И.М.Губкниа) and BakerHughes’ Russian Headquarters.

We got to meet university officials, who told us about the great opportunities for students and graduates of Gubkin University and showing us the high level of hands-on industry practice on state-of-the-art laboratory and training equipment. Finally, we had the opportunity to meet managers of BakerHughes who told us about their operations in the Russian and Caspian Sea Region, which was certainly a new and interesting aspect for our group.

Gubkin University's NOV sponsored offshore drilling simulator — Gubkin University’s NOV sponsored offshore drilling simulator

Pumps and workover rig in the university yard help the students develop an understanding of oilfield operations

Furthermore – and this was certainly one of the highlights of our trip – our stay in Moscow was coinciding with the visit of SPE International President D. Nathan Meehan, who held a presentation for the Student Chapters at the Moscow universities to which we were also invited. After that, we also took the obligatory “SPElfies” with our Russian Friends and SPE-President Meehan.

12189729_1148498278513550_3502969720637668355_n — “SPElfie” of our delegation with SPE President D. Nathan Meehan

After our five-days stay in Mocow, our group travelled further East to Ufa, where we could get a first impression of the famous Russian winter – heavy snowfalls and temperatures below 0°expected us upon our arrival in Ufa. Despite the cold weather we got a very warm welcome from Ufa’s SPE Student Chapter.

As in Moscow, we got the opportunity to meet with university officials and the local SPE Chapter who introduced us to their profTELEPORT project, which is a project that should guide students into their future professional work. The mutual friendship was strengthened by games encouraging out-of-the-box thinking, team building and team work.

After a tour through the university, Prof. Mastobaev of the Chair of Petroleum Transport and Storage invited us to a Q&A session about the university and the opportunities of a semester abroad.

Furthermore, our colleagues of the Ufa SPE Student Chapter organized for us an excursion to Burintekh, an Ufa based company specialized in the production of drilling and workover tools. We had the great opportunity to visit one of their factories, where Burintekh produces – among other products – roller cone and PDC drill bits. Our tour followed the manufacturing process from the raw material via the individual manufacturing and treatment steps down to quality control and quality assurance in the dedicated material science labs.

Visiting Burintekh together with the Ufa SPE Student Chapter

This year was a very important year for the Ufa SPE Student Chapter, as it was not only their tenth anniversary, but the student chapter has also been rewarded for their hard work over the past year with the “Outstanding Student Chapter Award”, which is a very highly respected decoration for every student chapter. These two great achievements have been celebrated on a large party in a Jazz Club in the city center of Ufa, to which we were also invited. Along with dancing and karaoke performed by the students, we got our last chance of talking to our Russian colleagues, as this party also marked the end of our stay in Russia.

Our group members in uniforms of different Russian oil and gas companies – at the museum of Ufa University

On a little side note, we would like to mention that a close cooperation exists between Ufa State Petroleum Technology University and Montanuniversitaet Leoben, which makes student exchanges very simple. Currently, we have some students from Ufa in Leoben, and there are a few students from our university planning on doing a semester abroad in Ufa. After having seen this university, we would really like to encourage all of our students to consider such a great opportunity, as it can offer much more than only studying abroad, but also getting to know new people, broaden your mind and get an unforgettable experience in a foreign country! We are also doing our best to get a similar cooperation between our university and Moscow’s Gubkin University.

This Field Trip helped bonding and tightening the Austro-Russian friendship, both between the students and the Student Chapters. We are looking forward to many more international events and cooperations to come with our new friends, be it mutual visits, exchange programs or other joint events.

On this occasion, the SPE Student Chapter Leoben would like to thank our colleagues at Gubkin University and Ufa University for their hospitality, their kindness and their incredible help organizing all the amazing events we experienced in this week. Without you, this whole Field Trip would not have been the same, it would not even have been possible!

Visit of a delegation of Students from Moscow’s Gubkin University in Austria

In the middle of October the SPE Student Chapter had the great pleasure to welcome a group of students from Gubkin State Oil and Gas University (РГУ нефти и газа им. И.М. Губкина) in Vienna and Leoben. The delegation of 12 students came to Hungary and Austria to visit the respective oil companies, MOL Group in Budapest and OMV in Gänserndorf, and took the opportunity to also visit our university for a day.

A team of our active members met our Russian friends in Vienna on October 10^th, and showed them around in order to give them an impression of Vienna. We then accompanied the group to Leoben to spend the night, and the next day, we had the opportunity to present our university to them. This included not only a tour of our campus, but we also had the opportunity to give our friends an impression of the history of our Alma Mater in the Museum of the University as well as an insight in some of the research going on at the Department of Petroleum Engineering. In particular, our guests got to see the research facilities on ultrasonic wave applications and the brand new pump test unit. Furthermore, we got a tour of the geologists’ labs and an introduction to the work of the Chair of Petroleum Geology.

On behalf of our team, we would like to extend our special thanks to Prof. Reinhard Sachsenhofer of the Chair of Petroleum Geology and to DI Mikhail Pavlov and DI Patrick Eisner of the Chair of Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Recovery as well as Dr. Johann Delanoy of the Museum of MUL for their interesting presentations.

Sadly, the stay of our Russian friends in Leoben was very short, because there was a tour to OMV’s Matzen Oil Field in Lower Austria planned for the next day, which also happened to be the last day in Austria for our colleagues from Moscow.

The departure of the delegation of Gubkin university made us only looking ore forward to our next opportunities to reunite with them such as the SPE Leoben Field Trip to Russia starting from Oct. 24^thto Nov. 1^st.

We are very grateful for getting this great opportunity of socializing with foreign students and (re-) presenting our university, and we hope that our guests enjoyed their stay in Austria as much as we enjoyed it.