Students who competed in PetroChallenge 2010 get a real perspective of what the oil industry can offer them in the future. | Justin Flores/The Daily Cougar
UH students from different colleges got the chance to compete against each other and teach high school students at PetroChallenge 2010, held Jan. 9-12.
The PetroChallenge is a team-based competition concerning oil and gas, created and conducted by Simprentis, a company that trains students and young professionals with its Oilsim software.
“To me, it’s a great way to get the various colleges working together,” director of Petroleum Technology Initiative Christiansen said.
During the competition, student groups work with a computer-based program that simulates situations dealt with by oil workers.
“We’re giving them a real sense of what it’s like to work in the oil and gas industry,” Simprentis’ Business Development executive for USA Graeme Slaven said. “They’re handling data and making decisions that replicate and simulate what it is like to work in an oil company going through an exploration campaign. It mimics almost exactly the same process that an oil company goes through as it explores for oil.”
Slaven said each group starts with a budget of $200 million. The students take the budget and must indicate the best prospects.
“The way they identify the best prospects is by purchasing industry standard data such as seismic data,” he said. “They learn how to interpret that data and to use the analysis to decide which prospect holds the best value for their company.”
European countries regularly hold PetroChallenge competitions, but PetroChallenge 2010 marks the first time Simprentis’ simulations have been used for competition in the U.S.
Christiansen said Simprentis offered the opportunity to the University in late 2008, but it took some time to get everything structured in terms of affordability.
The Independent Petroleum Association of America and the University eventually shared the costs for the Simprentis software.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for the students, so we jumped at it,” Director of the IPAA Education Center in Houston Doris Richardson said.
Three high school academies started by IPAA took part in the competition for the first two days. The academies competed among themselves before interacting with the UH teams in the next two days.
“(IPAA has) established three academies here in Houston: Milby, Lamar and Westside,” Christiansen said. “I thought this would be great for the University and great for the high schools. We need students coming to the University.”
Slaven said PetroChallange gives participants a completely different experience.
“It gives them a real perspective in terms of what the industry can offer them as a future career. They always surprise us by giving us … a completely different perspective on what the industry is about. That’s the richness you get from the students.”
Results for the competition can be seen at the www.simprentis.com.
