EAGE Newsletter Students 2016, Issue 1 by EAGE

EAGE NEWSLETTER

STUDENTS

Issue 1 2016

What it takes to be outstanding Claudia Steiner-Luckabauer

laudia Steiner-Luckabauer, co-chair, EAGE Student Affairs Committee, and senior geoscientist at HOT Engineering, Leoben, offers some inspirational advice to students attending this year’s Annual Meeting in her native country of Austria. ‘Perform and Peak’ is this year’s topic of the Vienna 2016 student programme. A theme that covers exactly what the industry needs. Around 600 students are expected to participate, building upon their networks and technical skills, despite the fact that the oil market is still tight. It is this spirit and motivation that the industry needs at the moment. Young people, who find a way, who know what they want, and will be prepared for the economic revival. We take this already as one major positive personality trait. Future professionals will face situations which are uncomfortable, imperfect and stressful, which need some extra effort - taking extra communication and energy to proceed. That is how people are making companies successful. This is what it takes being outstanding and being professional. We congratulate you for keeping on track. Some students are already experiencing what is needed to become a professional by participating in the EAGE FIELD challenge. At this very moment, six teams are working very hard for a victory in this competition. They are required to analyze and propose a FIELD development plan for a discovered hydrocarbon resource. Each team has the same sponsored dataset to work with, integrating

geophysical, geological, petrophysical, reservoir engineering and production engineering data. The winning team of the FIELD development plan presentation will be rewarded with a great prize at a special awarding ceremony! And all of you out there can also find out what it takes to be an outstanding professional by using the services that EAGE offers to get in contact with people in the industry. Opening an EAGE Student Chapter at your university, signing in for the FIELD challenge, participating in our student lectures: these are only some of the possibilities that EAGE offers for students to stand out. Those students unable to come to the Vienna 2016 Student Programme, should not be worried as there are also plenty of other opportunities. EAGE Student Chapters organize events locally, and EAGE offers student webinars and lectures held at your university. Even with a more difficult industry, EAGE does not forget about its student members!

The industry needs people thinking outside the box, being able to peak their head into other disciplines, integrate to come to an overall solution. The number of Student Chapters is still growing, making use of the EAGE services to be truly exceptional and to support students’ education locally with the expertise of international Read more on page 2 ➤

You can join in the Black Sea geology debate in Vienna

really happening Student Programme is planned for the 78th EAGE Conference & Exhibition in Vienna – oral and poster presentations, the Geo-Quiz, the FIELD Challenge, a career dedicated area, the Student Evening and loads of networking opportunities during the week. But in all the buzz of the event, be sure not to miss out on one special occasion: this year’s Motivational Speech and Debate. Dr Gabor Tari, group chief geologist, OMV, has been invited to talk you through the intriguing and controversial history of the Black Sea, with a chance to debate the topic at the end. Dr Tabor says the geology of the Black Sea is fascinating not only for the petroleum geoscientist, but also for archeologists. The biblical Noah’s Flood could have occurred in the Black Sea as offshore research activities in the last two decades revealed evidence for a catastrophic flooding of a Black Lake with a lake-level some 100 m below the level of the global ocean, about 8400 years ago. Tari reviews the geologic evidence for these earlier events, occurring during the Messinian Read more on page 2 ➤

What's inside Jesper’s column

Making of a professional geoscientist 4 Webinars for knowledge

Nigerians join chapter bandwagon 9 And more...

EAGE UPDATE

What it takes to be outstanding Continued from p.1.

professionals. Standing out is not only about your technical competence. Many other skills are necessary. To be seen by companies is to work also on your soft skills. This is what differentiates inactive students from outstanding ones! The industry also needs people thinking outside the box, being able to peak their head into other disciplines, and integrate in order to arrive at an overall solution. Careful listening is maybe the most difficult but the most important soft skill a person can develop. It will help you in your future career as well as in your current situation. Careful listening helps to develop trust and respect, it helps in reducing problems and pressure. It makes it much easier to really hear what experts or colleagues are saying, when you start to listen carefully. It is a matter of reflecting on what has been said and being aware that colleagues, professionals and experts do have a good reason for what they are saying. Students sometimes may have the feeling they need to be on the defensive all the time and in every situation about what they know and what they don’t know. We would like to encourage you to let go of this attitude, as it is only distract-

EAGE Student Newsletter Student Affairs Committee Claudia Steiner-Luckabauer co-chair (HOT Engineering GmbH) Pierre-Olivier Lys co-chair (Total) Anne Jardin (IFP Energies Nouvelles) Giancarlo Bernasconi (Politecnico di Milano) Roger Clark (University of Leeds) Aaron Girard (University of Western Australia) Community Manager (Students) Kirsten Brandt (kbt@eage.org) Account Manager Corporate Relations Daan van Ommen (don@eage.org) Submission of articles communications@eage.org Newsletter on the Web (www.eage.org)

ing. Careful listening will take some inner effort but it pays to learn from others instead of always debating what has been said. We would like to encourage you all to take the opportunity in any tough situation to hold on for a minute, asking yourself which of your strengths will help you in your future career. What are your obvious competences and how can you enhance them? You probably have more skills of which you are not fully aware. Just keep on experimenting, keep visiting workshops, courses, events – and it’s possible you will

find a new talented side of yourself. Be aware of your weaknesses and accept them. Try to build strategies helping you to overcome them. Being outstanding may also mean not just taking care of yourself, but having regard for others. It means putting aside some time to renew your resources, to be fit and clear-headed for future tasks. In this context, hopefully those of you at the EAGE Annual Meeting this year will take some time out to enjoy Austria’s capital Vienna. So keep on track, be outstanding, be who you are. We will see each other in Vienna!

You can join in the Black Sea geology debate in Vienna Continued from p.1.

(Late Miocene) and the latest Eocene. He says there is a geologic signal associated with the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) in the Black Sea, but it is more complex than it was thought in the late seventies, shortly after the exciting discovery of the desiccation of the Mediterranean at the same time. Erosional features have been observed along the Black Sea shelf in wells and on seismic reflection profiles that are broadly similar to the seismic stratigraphic signature of the MSC in the Mediterranean. In particular, the intra-Pontian unconformity has been suggested by some as the manifestation of the MSC in the Black Sea Basin. Missing strata and prominent lithological changes associated with the inferred MSC unconformity indicate erosional removal of parts of the underlying Cenozoic deposits in the shelf areas of the entire Black Sea. The magnitude of the relative sea level drop associated with this unconformity has been much debated, and ranges from tens of metres to 1600 m! Interestingly, the Black Sea has already been almost desiccated during the latest Eocene, as Tari sees it, based on his geologic observations and interpretations during the last few years. Recently acquired seismic reflection data revealed a very distinct seismic package in the Bulgarian part of the deepwater basin. The small-scale (40-80 m) clinoforms, downlapping onto the top Eocene unconformity, could not be seen on earlier seismic data sets due to their relatively deep position, close to the basin centre. In view of their characteristic seismic pattern, Tari interprets these clino-

Satellite image of the Black Sea.

forms as part of a shallow-water delta during the earliest Oligocene. The base of the delta sequence is correlated with a similar seismic sequence located on the Turkish side of the basin corresponding to huge alluvial fans entering the subaerially exposed basin floor. These observations are interpreted as the signature of a huge base-level drop (2000+ m!) in the Black Sea Basin at the end of the Eocene.” A geoscientist has to have an open mind beyond just looking at geological or geophysical data. In his speech Tari will highlight the case of the Black Sea where geology meets archeology in a very spectacular and thought-provoking manner. Following the speech we invite you to debate the topic: ‘Is there enough geological and geophysical evidence, pro or contra, for the catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea about 8400 years ago?’. To prep yourself please find the pre-readings on the Vienna Student Programme website. As for what else is going on, in February the Technical Programme selection meeting at EAGE head office in the Netherlands, chose 88 student contributions to be included. There will be two dedicated e-poster boxes for the Student Programme. So be inspired by the work of your colleagues!

EAGE NEWSLETTER STUDENTS ISSUE 1 2016

EAGE UPDATE / COLUMN

Chance to shine for students at Saint Petersburg

icture talking in front of the United Nations General Assembly when every word you say is immediately translated into several languages while the whole world is listening. Well, it might feel this way for many students at the 7th biannual Saint Petersburg International Conference & Exhibition on 11-14 April 2016 when they make their inaugural presentations alongside seasoned participants in the technical programme of the conference. All presentations are simultaneously translated into Russian and English while hundreds of geoscience professionals are in attendance from around the world. Following the successful experiment in 2014, student abstracts were reviewed among all submitted abstracts and many were included in the technical sessions of the conference. To top this experience, a special one-day student programme will take place on Thursday 14 April. With the additional influx of students who are only able to spare one day off their university studies, it will be a day packed with activities. The event will kick-off in the morning with a welcome from the EAGE Board, followed by several technical and soft skill lectures and workshops. Saint Petersburg has two geoscience universities with EAGE Student Chapters, Saint Petersburg State University and National Mineral Resources University. Both chapters will warmly welcome representatives from chapters at Tyumen State Oil and Gas University, Perm State National Research University, and Suez University in Cairo, Egypt. Mohamed Makram, current president of the Suez University Student Chapter, says: ‘As top-rated chapter for 2014-2015 we decided to work hard this year to win first place for a second year. I know that Saint Petersburg is an amazing city, and I want to meet the leaders of EAGE from around the world.’ The student programme is sponsored by Total and the EAGE Student Fund, including Shell. It will be supported by distinguished speakers and lecturers from major international companies. This presents students with a great networking opportunity and direct access to highranking professionals. A special feature and the highlight of the student programme will be the EAGE Geo-Quiz, a friendly competition between university teams on a multi-discipline range of topics, to test students on all things geoscience. The enviable first prize is a set of travel grants to the 78th EAGE Annual Conference & Exhibition in Vienna where regional winners will compete in the final Geo-Quiz for the most cherished student title of the year – EAGE Geo-Quiz Winner!

Jesper Dramsch is a Masters degree student starting his PhD at DTU in Copenhagen. He frequently writes for his blog ‘The Way of the Geophysicist’ on his experiences as a student in the geoscience community.

Treat this crisis as an opportunity

he current downturn in oil and gas hit me between the eyes just like everyone else, you probably too. I was finally done with uni in 2015 and very motivated to start my career in the working world. The rejection letters I received stated that employers were cutting positions rather than filling them. This at least mildly spared the ego. Nonetheless writing applications is a grind. Reading that an entry level position in Nova Scotia had over 5000 applicants really spells out what the current situation is. As depressing as this is, I have found this time to be an opportunity as well, and I will tell you why. Of course, I have kept writing applications to everything that popped up, so I continue doing the grind. However, with plenty of time on my hands, this has been the perfect time to embark on those projects that I ave always wanted to do, for example, visit the countries on the world map that have been staring at me mockingly waiting to be discovered. I decided to work three months in a Mercedes factory, packing vehicle body parts, to fill my checking account. This had me set for two months visiting Malaysia. I have never been to Asia and it was an amazing time. I went adventure caving and learned diving. I sat among locals ordering food I could barely pronounce and it tasted amazing. Additionally, I found the time and energy to improve my blog, it’s now on a new server with a much nicer look. Recently, I also got involved in organizing a hackathon or codefest to accompany the EAGE meeting in Vienna. This is an occasion for mainly for students and young professionals to collaborate on coding projects together and compete with their ideas against other teams. This code fest is the first in Europe to follow a series of events accompanying the SEG meetings in the States. So if you do want to get involved with a new project, and you want to keep your spirits up and sharpen your skills in geoscience and geocomputing, please come and join us. If you want to learn more on the practical side of things, I can recommend getting in touch with research institutions. I am currently writing from the Czech Republic, where I am giving a helping hand in a field campaign. Whatever it is you prefer - coding, field work, writing or travelling you have freedom and opportunity to do it now. This is not an easy time, but there is not a single reason we can’t be our awesome selves anyway.

Saint Petersburg at night.

EAGE NEWSLETTER STUDENTS ISSUE 1 2016

INTERVIEW

The making of an international geophysicist Qiaole Zhao has been working as a geophysicist at Shell in the Netherlands for two years, but her life and studies started out quite differently in her home country of China. We asked her about the journey to her current job.

Qiaole Zhao: from China to international oil industry.

Tell us about your early life in China (upbringing and education)? I was born and grew up in Taiyuan in the north of China. I received my Bachelor and Master degrees in Electronic Science and Engineering from Southeast University in Nanjing, in 2006 and 2009 respectively. During my Masters study, I worked at the MEMS (Micro-Electronic-Mechanical System) lab for four months in National Cheng Kung University in Tainan. In 2009, I came to the Netherlands for a PhD project in the Department of Imaging Physics, Faculty of Applied Science at Delft University of Technology. The project is about evaluating a new FLIM (Fluor-escence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy) system based upon a pixel level modulated camera. In 2014, I received the Doctorate degree and joined Shell Global Solutions International as a processing geophysicist.

How did you become interested in science and engineering? In high school in China, there was a mandatory division where you needed to choose either ‘Science’ or ‘Art’ studies. At that time, I was quite good at maths and physics, so I chose ‘Science’ which led me where I am now. My interest in science started at high school, all the physics problems we had to solve were quite intriguing and practical. Is it easy for students in China to be able to study abroad? Nowadays, yes it is. Roughly this can be divided into three cases: The relatively rich family can afford for their children to study abroad for a Bachelor or Masters degree, sometimes even for high school. However, having money is not the only chance to be able to study abroad. Students can apply for Master/PhD programmes with scholarships, or RA/TA possibilities provided their English and performance are good enough. They receive funding from the universities abroad. This was my case. Finally, students can also apply for scholarships from The China Scholarship Council (CSC) in China. This is a non-profit institution affiliated with the Ministry of Education. It’s easier to get into a programme this way since the students are self-financed and therefore more attractive for universities abroad. Did you ever imagine that you would end up working for a supermajor in Europe? I didn’t imagine too much before about where I could end up, I was more focused on doing well in what I was doing and seize the opportunities when they come. Looking back at the path I took, I don’t feel surprised that I ended up here. It is the result of a gradual built up through years of hard work with the help of good opportunities. But I do feel blessed to be able to work in Shell in the Netherlands. I like the work and the life here. Do you mind long absences from your homeland, and is there anything you miss? It’s a mixed feeling. I’ve been away from my hometown for 14 years, and from my home-

land for seven years. I’m more used to the way of living here than that of home. But I do miss a lot my family, almost all of whom are in China. Of course, I also miss the food! What does your current job involve? I’m a geophysicist now. My current job is to process seismic images either in a production project, where we deliver the seismic cube to internal/external clients, or in an experimental project, where new technology or algorithms are being implemented and tested out. What do you like about your work, and what are the challenges? What I like about my work is the purpose and the importance of seismic processing. By making the seismic cube suitable for interpretation from the noisy raw data cube, each step gives a direct indicator that I’m making the data better and better. I can feel a great achievement. The challenges for me are the steep learning curves since ‘Geo’ is quite new for me, together with the new tools and platforms. Fortunately Shell does offer quite good training for this. Is there any advice you would offer specifically to women following the path you have? I cannot see a difference between man and woman in the path I took, not before having a family. Women are as smart and competitive as men.  The only difference I can foresee is, after having a family especially with kids, work and life balance tends to play a more important role for women. I currently work three days per week since my son is only 4 months old, but plan to increase the working days when my son grows a bit. I found it important to choose an employer who understands and allows this flexibility. Have you found your association with EAGE to be helpful in your education and career to date? Since my education background was not in the oil and gas industry, EAGE helped me a lot to get acquainted with the area, to know the news and the state-of-art technology.

EAGE NEWSLETTER STUDENTS ISSUE 1 2016

EAGE UPDATE

Do you have any suggestions as to how students can maximize their visit to the EAGE Annual Meting? Pay more attention to the questions after a presentation, from which you can learn what is really needed for the industry. Sometimes the research idea is good, but not practical. The mindset of doing research in university and in industry can be quite different. Go and enjoy the exhibition too, where you can get to know more companies and find possible employment. Looking ahead, where would you like your career to lead? Firstly, I would like to have a solid technical foundation in the geoscience/geophysics area, from there, I can see two career paths: either to be a technical expert in exploration, not just limited to seismic processing, but also gain vast knowledge about quantitative interpretation and technology deployment in acquisition, or to be in a managerial role. When you’re not at work, do you have any special interests? I like to play piano, climbing, travelling, and playing squash.

How to maximize student membership benefits Student membership is one of our fastest growing communities within the Association. Since 2013 the number of EAGE student members has increased by 40% from around 3000 to the current figure of over 4250.

EarthDoc current articles in First Break and in one journal of your choice. In this way you can reference peer-reviewed articles on a wide variety of topics. These in-depth articles have been carefully selected by our committees.

Benefits of membership Maybe you are struggling with a difficult paper, your dissertation or even a contribution to be presented at an EAGE event. Don’t worry, help may be nearer than you think. Each EAGE student member has access to EarthDoc, EAGE’s online database that provides a growing wealth of knowledge to which you can refer. The database contains over 55 000 indexed titles, many of them with case studies and insights presented by our members worldwide. For example, abstracts posted from countless events held around the world over many years are at your disposal. This allows you to relate your work to other studies on similar topics by academics, professionals and other students facing similar issues. With you membership you can access through

For the keen learners For the inquisitive minds amongst the student community, EAGE membership also provides the means to continue learning, even outside of your academic environment. Your membership allows you full access to our online learning platform Learning Geoscience, home to a large range of e-courses available in English, Russian, Spanish and Norwegian. In EAGE’s extensive bookshop you can buy the latest publications for special membership fees. If you are keen to get your hands on a book swiftly, EAGE also offers a choice of publications as e-books. If you have any questions or remarks about how to make your membership benefits work for you, our membership team is ready to help you. Contact: membership@eage.org.

Down to the last 10 in the FIELD Challenge!

he excitement is building. There were over 50 essays submitted to this year’s EAGE FIELD Challenge. Now the field is down to the best 10, for consideration in the next round of the competition. The essay submission - on the topic how to transfer knowledge between generations of geoscientists and engineers within a company - brought many interesting, innovative, and creative ideas, according to Pierre-Olivier Lys (Total), Student Affairs Committee cochair, and one of the judges. The teams still standing are: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (India), Texas A&M University (USA), University of Calgary (Canada), University of Utrecht (the Netherlands), Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (Malaysia), Technical University Delft (the Netherlands), two teams from IFP School (France), Bandung Institute of Technology (Indonesia), and Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway). In the next stage of the competition, the 10 teams have been provided with a dataset from OMV. It is an example of a new development in an old basin which has been producing for more than 80 years. Gerhard Milan, member of Vienna ’16 Local Advisory Committee, and geoscience skill pool manager at OMV, says: ‘The FIELD Challenge 2016 has been designed as a greenfield development. Therefore only the data available prior to the development decision has been provided. This will allow consideration of various development options. The

EAGE NEWSLETTER STUDENTS ISSUE 1 2016

FIELD Challenge finalists in front of the judges at Madrid 2015.

key uncertainties should also be addressed in the development plan.’ The teams are asked to submit an abstract on their findings. The judges will then select the six finalists who will receive travel grants to come to Vienna 2016 to present their FIELD development plans in front of the expert judges. The presentations will be held on Monday 30 May. During the Student Evening on Tuesday 31 May, the FIELD Challenge winners will be announced. The first place team will receive a 3000 euro voucher. We wish them all good luck!

EAGE UPDATE

Webinars for students enable the spread of knowledge EAGE Student Webinars are the latest initiative to connect students and professionals globally. The online video conference format allows experts to share their knowledge on a certain topic with student audiences around the world. The beauty of the programme is that through the live connection the lecture is highly interactive. Students’ questions can be answered on the spot. One of the pioneers of these webinars is Paolo Dell’Aversana of Eni, who presented the EAGE Student Lecture Tour Europe (2014-2015). This lecture has now become a worldwide EAGE webinar series on the hot topic of ‘Integrated Geophysical Models’. Dell’Aversana shows how geoscientists can obtain multi-parametric models by quantitative combination of seismic, electromagnetic (EM) and gravity data. Geology and rock physics represent the fundamental background of this integration process. In fact, rock physical models and empirical relationships derived from composite well logs, are used for linking the seismic and non-seismic domains. The details of this approach are extensively discussed in his book Integrated Geophysical Models - Combining Rock Physics with Seismic, Electromagnetic and Gravity Data (2014, EAGE Publications). The webinar is divided into two parts: theory and examples, respectively, for a total duration of about one and a half hours. In the first part, the key motivations for combining different types of geophysical methods are introduced. The basic principle is that combining heterogeneous pieces of information can reduce the uncertainties about significant properties of the system under study. For instance, combining seismic and electromagnetic information can be useful for estimating fluid saturation with a satisfactory level of reliability.

An EAGE Student Webinar in progress.

An example from Integrated Geophysical Models: a worldwide EAGE webinar tour by Paolo Dell’Aversana (Eni SpA).

Instead, seismic data and EM observations used separately can only provide ambiguous models. Integration provides a good model of fluid distribution in the rocks that can drive crucial decisions in the exploration workflow, in reservoir characterization and in hydrocarbon field monitoring. In summary, integration improves knowledge and helps decision-making. After the introduction, Dell’Aversana explains the most advanced methods for quantitative integration of different types of geophysical data. These approaches involve the concept of geophysical inversion. The lecturer discusses both cooperative modelling and simultaneous joint inversion (SJI) as complementary methods for integration of multi-domain geophysical data: these data can be collected at surface (seismic, EM, gravity) as well as in borehole (composite well logs). In the second part, Dell’Aversana introduces the modern concept of QUIS: Quantitative Integration Systems. These represent powerful software and hardware platforms based on massive parallel computation. Many advanced modelling and inversion codes work in cooperation, running on computer clusters. Then, several case histories are discussed regarding data integration in complex geological settings. These include stacked reservoirs overlying a carbonate platform and basalt/salt covered areas. The webinar ends on an intriguing ‘non-standard’ note. It is a brief introduction to a ‘Generalized Theory of Integrated Information’. Dell’Aversana argues that this is a fundamental question of human cognition, strictly linked with problem-solving, creativity and innovation. For instance, integration of information is a crucial open question in many problems of medical diagnosis, in social sciences and in the study of financial trends. This subject is treated in his first book, Cognition in Geosciences - The feeding loop between geodisciplines, cognitive sciences and epistemology (2013, EAGE Publications). The webinar is interactive, so everyone is invited to ask questions during the presentation or at the end of each part. Dell’Aversana will be happy to discuss with students and researchers, involving them as much as possible.

Student Programme 30 May – 2 June 2016 EDUCATION - RECRUITMENT - NETWORKING - ENTERTAINMENT 78 th EAGE Conference & Exhibition

VIENNA 2016

EAGE NEWSLETTER STUDENTS ISSUE 1 2016

EAGE UPDATE

Egyptian students keep their standards up with webinar initiative

ne of the pillars of the EAGE Student Chapter at Suez University, Egypt, is to think out of box, writes Mohamed Makram, current chapter president. We were very interested in hosting the EAGE Student Webinar being presented by Dr Paolo Dell’Aversana (Eni) on ‘Integrated Geophysical Models Theory, examples and implications on creativity’. It gave us the idea to organize a conference focusing on this interesting topic as an overview of seismic processing and interpretation. The EAGE Technical Conference (ETC) was held on 19-20 February, attended by about 95 students from different universities in Egypt. Besides hosting the EAGE Student Webinar by Paolo Dell’Aversana, we were also honoured by the presence of Eng Bahaa Eldin Hamdy, an exploration geoscientist at Shell, Egypt, and Eng Islam Samy, geophysicist at PGS, Egypt. The day started with a presentation about EAGE and the Suez University Student Chapter, presented by Joseph Ezzy, EAGE Suez Chapter’s secretary. He spoke about the vision, mission, events and upcoming conferences of EAGE. The presentation was followed by an opening speech from chapter president Makram welcoming students from Tanta, Cairo, Alexandria, Ainshams, Suez, Assiut and Minya University. The first technical presentation was an introduction to integrated geophysical models and was presented by Eng Islam Samy (PGS). During this presentation he discussed the basics and the fundamentals used in exploration methods. The EAGE Student Webinar followed and lasted for two hours. Dr Paolo

Student Webinar participants gather for a group picture with Paolo Dell’Aversana.

Dell’Aversana responded to a lot of questions after the webinar with a great interaction between the lecturer and the attendees. 85 students were actively participating in the lecture. The final part of the first day of the ETC was a fruitful open discussion about future careers for students and how the low prices of the oil and gas can influence the job opportunities in the future. This discussion was between the audience and the two instructors from PGS and Shell. The second day was filled by workshops about seismic processing (Eng Islam Samy) and seismic interpretation (Eng Bahaa Eldin). The seismic interpretation workshop was about how to find the positions of the folds, faults and stratigraphic features from real maps. The conference, and the EAGE Student Webinar in particular, was very useful for the participating students. As part of the EAGE Suez Student Chapter, I hope we can further contribute to the industry by organizing future events.

How EAGE interest groups can boost your early career prospects

Listening to WGE presentations.

Attentive young professionals.

ne of the best tips for students committed to the geosciences and those graduates in their early careers is to take advantage of EAGE’s special interest groups. If you are attending, the Annual Meeting in Vienna would be a good place to start. The groups which should be relevant for every young EAGE member to join is our Young Professionals (YP) community, and for female graduates, the EAGE Women in Geoscience and Engineering (WGE) group will be very relevant as well. During the EAGE Annual in Vienna, the YP Community will organize a special session for all young geoscience professionals. The event will cover topics like career development, leadership and a lot more. A major focus will definitely be the challenge of finding and keeping a job in

EAGE NEWSLETTER STUDENTS ISSUE 1 2016

this difficult recruitment market for the oil industry. The WGE Community will also be organizing a special session on relevant themes like mentoring, career advice and professional development for women in the industry. Students are invited to attend the YP and WGE special sessions to learn from inspiring speakers like Ceri Powell, Shell’s executive vice president, Upstream International Exploration, and also meet other EAGE members. If you want to be part of the EAGE communities and stay updated about tips, career advice and the latest news for young professionals or women in the industry, join the groups on LinkedIn! Search for ‘EAGE–Young Professionals’ or ‘EAGE–Women in Geoscience and Engineering’. We look forward to welcoming you to our online community!

STUDENT CHAPTERS

Major event schedule underway for Brazilian students Paulo Augusto V.D. Souza, president, and Rafael R. Manenti, vice president, of the newly created Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) Student Chapter explain what they expect to achieve in the coming years. During the 14th International Congress of the Brazilian Geophysical Society, EAGE president Mohammed Alfaraj gave a lecture about EAGE Student Chapters and how the Association could help students in developing new projects and many other possibilities. With that in mind, geophysics students from UFBA agreed that was a great opportunity to create the UFBA Student Chapter. With geophysical equipment available for various applications, the main goal is to integrate them for different areas of knowledge in geoscience. The Chapter believes this is an important step in training and developing new professionals. From a geological viewpoint, UFBA Chapter is located in the Reconcavo Basin, a Mesozoic rift basin of major importance due to its hydrocarbon potential. This made it one of the most important basins in Brazil and the exploration target of

many oil companies, especially Petrobras since the 1940s. Students therefore have a great opportunity to study Reconcavo, using not only available data (provided by companies that once explored the basin), but data collected by students themselves. Thus, geological background can be increased and trained as well. For its first year, UFBA Chapter intends to: create a geophysical acquisition site, for shallow seismic, gravimetry, magnetometry, ground penetrating radar and electrical method; start a yearly event called ‘Non-Conventional Geophysics Week’; organize a Welcome Event for new undergraduate students to show school facilities, talk about what is expected from them and what they will be facing for the next four years; develop an event called ‘Seismic Marathon’, which consists in having several lectures and short courses about all three pillars of seismic - acquisition, processing and interpretation; organize the 7th Geophysical Week of Federal University of Bahia, consisting of a whole week exclusively dedicated to all fields of geophysics, with short courses and lectures from professionals and scientists from different compa-

nies and universities; hold weekly lectures from researchers, Masters and PhD students about their current subject of study, preliminar results, objectives, past projects, etc. All events will be open to the entire geoscientific community. UFBA Student Chapter, with Michael Holz as advisor, is aiming to create a solid and organized structure, so the Chapter can keep working over the coming years. For more information about the Chapter and who the team members are, please visit www.ufbastudentchapter.com.br.

Student members of the EAGE UFBA Student Chapter, Brazil.

High hopes for new chapter in Mexico Student Chapter President Moira Aguilar sets out why the students from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) established an EAGE Student Chapter. We decided to start the student chapter EAGE-UNAM because we thought it was important for our university to get in touch with activities and associations besides the ones we usually work with. Given the globalization that is happening these days, we can no longer afford to settle

EAGE-UNAM Student Chapter members show off their Mexican roots.

with the opportunities given in our home country. It’s time for us to go out there and make our luck, take responsibility for our future, decide what our place in this world will be and what we want our legacy to be. We will be able to achieve this by having a wider sense of the world and learning new things every day. In order to accomplish these goals, our activities are oriented towards exposing our members to new cultures, experiences and adventures. We will offer them a broader view of the different work fields and academic opportunities that are available. One big benefit that our members will have is to meet renowned professionals who can share their experience and knowledge, listen to their advice and follow their example. We can also help them meet new people with whom they might share different interests. One of the advantages of EAGE is that it involves many different disciplines. This is a perfect example to remind us that good teamwork can lead to a different understanding of

things, change our perspective and learn from each other. This experience will help us later in life, both professionally and personally, since we’ll be able to work with people with different backgrounds. We also want this to be a legacy for later generations, so they can do things better than we did and have the opportunity to add their ideas. Hopefully in the near future, people from other faculties will ask to join our chapter and this will become a bigger project throughout the university. This will be possible thanks to all the support we have received from everyone involved, including teachers and students. In the years to come we expect to have bigger events and collaborate with other student chapters so we can reach more students and have more impact in our surroundings. Finally, we would like to thank everyone at EAGE for making this possible and hope that in the future they will consider Mexico as a possible venue for their annual meeting.

EAGE NEWSLETTER STUDENTS ISSUE 1 2016

STUDENT CHAPTERS

Students in Nigeria join the chapter bandwagon

he EAGE Student Chapter of the University of Lagos, Nigeria (EAGE-UNILAG) was born in the last quarter of 2015. Its conception was due mainly to the passion and enthusiasm of Ambrose Ogbuike and faculty advisor Prof Elijah Ayolabi to foster a lasting legacy in the university geosciences department. The department is devoted to teaching and research providing broad expertise in resource exploration, extraction, production and utilization, as well as providing solutions to various resource-related environmental problems to facilitate a balanced learning environment for students. The current head of department is. Prof S.D. Olobaniyi. The university was founded in 1962 and for over five decades it has provided qualitative and research-oriented education to those who have entered its domain in search of knowledge. The university has built a legacy of excellence and has been instrumental in the production of top range graduates and academia who have had

New Nigerian Student Chapter at Lagos University.

tremendous impact, directly or indirectly, on growth and development in Nigeria. The current vice-chancellor is Prof Rahmon Ade Bello. The Chapter comprises a faculty advisor, four principal officers and 11 active members. It has a team of professional and technical students drawn from both geophysics and geology. The aim of the Chapter is to bridge the gap between classroom lectures and real-time industry experience by introducing young geoscientists to the EAGE scope of events and the main stream ac-

tivities of the oil and gas sector locally and internationally. For the year under review, the chapter plans for a brief field work at Igarra,Edo State in February, Petrel Simulation at Geosciences department,UNILAG in March, field trip to Lekki beach in April, Symposium to be anchored by industry experts from Exxon mobil, Addax, Total, Chevron, Schlumberger, Shell and Pacific Drilling west African at UNILAG in May,Geoscience Lecture Series to be anchored by authority in geology and geophysics in July, Online Webinar Lecture at UNILAG E-Learning Centre in July/August and AGM in August, 2016. The Chapter has been very active and ever present in EAGE organized events and hence she plans to participate in the following EAGE activities: EAGE Field Challenge, EAGE online quiz, EAGE webinar lecture, EAGE student lecture tour, EAGE Geophysics and Geological Boot camp and the EAGE IPTC Student Conference among others.

Indian School of Mines students dig deep for a big occasion Aayush Agarwal, president of the Student Chapter at Indian School of Mines, describes a recently organized event, Geoconfluence 2016, that included an EAGE Student Webinar. Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad has always been ranked amongst the best earth science institutes in the country. The EAGE Student Chapter is an effort by students of the Department of Applied Geophysics to set new benchmarks in the field of geosciences and technology. The Chapter aims to help students gain interest in the field of geosciences by organising various events including paper presentations, case studies and also several guest lectures and workshops from industry and academia. One of the latest events was Geoconfluence ’16. The event took place from 22-24 January, 2016. Organizing such an event not only requires months of meticulous planning and painstaking grass root work by students under the guidance of the faculty, but also support from outside to make it a success. There were a number of activities organized under the banner of Geoconfluence ’16. ‘Geo Draft’ was a technical paper competition in which the participants were asked do a PowerPoint presentation of their research work, followed by questions from the judges. Twelve papers were selected from the abstracts submitted on topics such as unconventional resources, enhanced oil recovery, mapping of petroleum systems. ‘Geo Fabrica’ was a poster presentation event. More than 50 submissions were received out of which 15 were selected for presentation. ‘Shutterbug’ was a geotechnical snapshot competition in which the participants were required to submit a photograph related to any geophysical or geological feature or phenomena. The most appreciated of all the technical events at Geoconfluence ’16 was

EAGE NEWSLETTER STUDENTS ISSUE 1 2016

Indian School of Mines students in class.

the EAGE Student Webinar by Dr Satinder Chopra, chief geophysicist, reservoir at Arcis Seismic Solution, TGS, Calgary, Canada on the topic of ‘Seismic Attribute Expression of Differential Compaction’. The webinar was attended by 75 students including undergraduate, postgraduate and research scholars and five faculty members from the Department of Applied Geophysics.. We received very positive feedback from the participants and wish to seek further support from EAGE for organizing such webinars. Other activities that were organized during the conference included a quiz competition, guest lectures and Green Hour; an initiative to promote energy security and sustainability. Running a successful Student Chapter means searching for funding for our activities. For Geoconfluence ’16 we were glad and grateful to our sponsors: Ministry of Earth Science (MoES), Cairn India, and PAN INDIA. Students from different institutes across India participated in this major student event. Judging by the level of effort being put in by students, no stone will be left unturned in the bid for further successes in the future.

STUDENT CHAPTERS / INDUSTRY NEWS

Student Chapter meeting is headline event at Vienna

Paul Sava (EAGE Education Officer) hands out the Best Student Chapter prize.

AGE is proud of its rapidly growing number of student chapters. We had 27 student chapters around the world in 2014, and today we have over 60, either new or resubscribed! To celebrate this growth we intend to give the chapters a stage at the 78th EAGE Conference & Exhibition in Vienna taking place from 30 May to 2 June. On Thursday 2 June from 11:30 to 15:00 the EAGE Student Chapter meeting will be held at Vienna 2016 in lecture room ‘Schubert’ 6. This will be the perfect opportunity for student chapters, local chapters and other industry professionals to mingle and network.

The event will kick off with a welcome speech from EAGE education officer Paul Sava (Colorado School of Mines) and will include a lunch. This will be followed by a Diversity Icebreaker led by Marie-Bendikt Stordrange. (Manager Career Management, Training and Development Corporate Affairs, Total). The Diversity Icebreaker builds upon a questionnaire that measures preferences for interaction, communication and problemsolving styles. The workshop that follows engages participants in a set of unique group processes to develop a shared understanding of how to make best use of the diversity of their group. The formula opens possibilities to lead further development processes in various directions after the

versity (Egypt), but with the growing number of new entrants, they face stiff opposition to repeat, from among others last year’s runners up, Sultan Qaboos University (Oman), Cracow University AGH (Poland), and Hasanuddin University (Indonesia). Then again, we may see new chapters ending up in the top three. We are looking forward to an exciting competition in which anything is possible!

workshop (improved communication, self-awareness, team development, etc.).

portunity to send three of their members to the EAGE Conference & Exhibition.

Student Chapter Wall As an important element of EAGE’s membership base, chapters will also get the opportunity on the EAGE Student Chapter Wall (located in the Student Court #1590) to promote/showcase their upcoming activities. Best Student Chapter prize up for grabs Then there is the question: who will receive the illustrious title of ‘Best Student Chapter’, along with a €2000 voucher to spend on chapter activities? We will find out the answer during the Student Evening in Vienna when the winner will be announced. Current holder of the title is Suez Uni-

Computer power for Western Australian campus

erth-based geoscience processing company Down Under GeoSolutions has donated 1896 cores using Intel Xeon CPUs to a new supercomputer at the University of Western Australia (UWA) as its way of investing in the future. The university has welcomed a high performance cluster to its Perth campus specifically designed for carrying out largememory and data-intensive applications involved in computational chemistry, biology, physics, and big data research. The university said the supercomputer comprises 2316 cores in the compute nodes, comprising 7.8 terabytes of main memory and 153 terabytes of local scratch disk.

Free tickets for Student Chapters EAGE provides student chapters with some exciting opportunities during the Annual Meeting. To support the chapter’s members, EAGE organizes the Online Geo-Quiz for student chapters only. The three winning teams are given the op-

No EAGE Student Chapter at your university yet? Become a student chapter and receive 15 free memberships! Please send an e-mail to the EAGE community manager at students@eage.org to receive more information about the benefits of being a student chapter and how to get started.

IFP launch petroleum data management course

or the 2016 new term, IFP School is launching, jointly with the Ecole nationale des sciences géographiques (ENSG), renowned for its expertise in geomatics, a brand new training programme for the energy sector in the field of petroleum data management (PDM). The programme is said to have obtained strong support from partner companies including international oil companies Engie, Statoil, and Total; service companies CGG and Schlumberger; and consulting services: Teradata, CVA Engineering. The companies will take part in lectures and projects. The programme is data-oriented, mixing background knowledge on exploration and production geo-referenced data and innovative data management methods. It provides the necessary tools for information technology, project management and communication, and is open to candidates having an engineering or Masters degree in geosciences or reservoir engineering, drilling or production technologies, and geomatics and GIS technologies, and information technologies.

EAGE NEWSLETTER STUDENTS ISSUE 1 2016

INDUSTRY NEWS

Opening the opportunities for women in geoscience

‘

Geology isn’t just for the boys’. That’s the message of a one day workshop being held at Plymouth University in Devon, UK to encourage female ‘A’ level students to consider studying earth sciences at university and exploring the world of careers open to earth science graduates. The Girls into Geoscience event includes seminars from women working in geology, and handson workshops looking at GIS, microfossils and planetary geology. One company present at this year’s event is AquaGeo, a geoscience company led by women. Managing director Claire Jennings said: ‘I am motivated and driven to entice A-level students into marine geoscience as it is a very inspiring and challenging career with lots of opportunities to travel and experience what the world has to offer. The marine geophysical industry is a complex sector with a wide variety of career options for women. Ranging from numerous offshore surveying technical positions, through to shore support and onshore project management. It is not a industry for the fainthearted! You have to be strong-willed to make a place for yourself in countries and territories that aren’t so welcoming to women in business.

Omani MSc group visit UK south coast geology sites

Students on Dorset coast.

‘There has been a significant shift as the marine geophysical industry makes positive steps towards providing a more supportive working environment for women. Over the last decade the world has opened up with modern forms of technology and this has enabled women to be recognised and become equal in all areas; and in particular outside of the office environment and into offshore field work. It is now proven beyond doubt that in modern society any geological project can be complemented by the skillsets that women have to offer. Being an all-female management team at AquaGeo does make us a little different within the industry, but we are still measured by our knowledge and successes. Once you can prove your position and worth by your performance the barriers swiftly dissipate.’

CGG donates software to Malaysian university

ntegrated geoscience company CGG has made a significant software donation to Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) in Malaysia as part of its commitment to help train the next generation of geoscience graduates joining the energy industry. Following an initial software donation in 2012, CGG Software has made a second larger donation to UTP, this time consisting of both its Hampson-Russell and Jason reservoir characterization suites. As a sign of its appreciation of this historic donation, UTP held an official ceremony for the handover of the donation in September attended by representatives from PETRONAS, CGG and UTP.

EAGE NEWSLETTER STUDENTS ISSUE 1 2016

Sc students in the Department of Petroleum Geoscience at the German University of Technology (GUtech) in Oman spent a week last summer on the south coast of the UK learning about play evaluation in petroleum exploration with head of department Professor Dr Wiekert Visser. Most of the MSc students are pursuing their studies along with work duties in different companies in Oman, such as PDO, Oman Oil, CCED, and CGG. Throughout their studies the students conduct a number of field trips in Oman and abroad. The Southern coastline of the UK, especially the regions of Devon and Dorset, are renowned for their teaching possibilities in oil and gas exploration geology GUtech is affiliated with RWTH Aachen University. The MSc programme in Petroleum Geoscience at GUtech is recognised by the Ministry of Higher Education in Oman and uses the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) to record student’s process.

When sponsors rule …

his from University of Calgary (U of C) student publication Gauntlet, not to be taken too seriously. The U of C administration has announced that every student’s last name will be legally changed to Taylor. Though the plan has been met with widespread criticism, administration claimed this is the best move to ensure the Taylor family will keep forking massive A Taylor building at University of amounts of money over to us. ‘Changing the last Calgary. names of the students was a no-brainer,’ provost Dru Taylor said in an e-mail. ‘Just think - we can now be a vibrant family of Taylors experiencing the student experience.’ The e-mail concluded with a seven-page list of sponsors. A new $500.00 acceptance deposit for incoming students will be implemented in the upcoming academic year to compensate for the fees associated with legal name changes. Name changes will begin with new applicants and first-year students. Students in their final year may not be required to legally change their name if they graduate quickly enough. Second-year geophysics student Alex Papastathopoulos is excited for the change. ‘My name doesn’t fit on the Scantron. People with short last names don’t realise the stress this causes. I’ll finally be able to bubble in my full surname!’ First-year business student Taylor Hodges was less enthused.

INDUSTRY NEWS / CALENDAR

Water work wins young scientist award

he European Geosciences Union (EGU) is awarding the 2016 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Young Scientists to Dr Kaveh Madani, senior lecturer in environmental management at Imperial College London. Dr Madani receives the recognition for his ‘fundamental contributions to integrating game theory and decision analysis into conventional water resources management.’ His fundamental contributions are said to have helped the larger water management community realize why traditional water management solutions fail in practice, as water users often base their decisions on individual rationality as

opposed to group rationality. In a TEDx talk on water conflicts and water wars which received significant international attention, he explained how he developed interest in game theory and integration of behavioural sciences into water management. Dr Madani has a PhD in civil and environmental engineering from the University of California, Davis, Master of Water Resources from Lund University and BSc in civil engineering from the University of Tabriz, and did post-doctoral research in environmental economics and policy at the Water Science and Policy Center at the University of California, Riverside.

Texas university in Mexican student exchange

his summer, 16 students from University of Texas at Austin and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico will participate in an exchange programme to study and develop computation techniques that will help scientists collect and analyze geoscience data. The programme, which will include six weeks of instruction and three weeks of fieldwork in the Central Mexican Altiplano and the Texas Hill Country, is the result of a collaboration between the UT International Office and School of Geosciences faculty led by associate professor Suzanne Pierce. Pierce, who is also a research scientist at the Texas Advanced Computer Center, said the idea for an exchange program started last March when Study Abroad Office administrators approached her about a possible international collaboration venture following a workshop she led on intelligence systems sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

Full STEAM ahead for US collaboration in geoscience education

new partnership between the University of Kentucky Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES) in the College of Arts and Sciences, UK College of Education and STEAM Academy will prepare a diverse population of high school students for careers in geosciences. The programme is being funded by a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and is expected to begin fall 2016. Through fieldwork, hands-on activities and new curriculum, the ‘Full STEAM Ahead’ programme will expose all STEAM students to four career options in the geosciences during their first two years of high school. Interested students can continue the programme with a semester-long internship in EES laboratories during their sophomore year. Students can then transition into a ‘geoscience career pathway’ through dual-credit EES courses on the UK campus during their junior and senior years, while continuing a customized curriculum at the STEAM Academy. The programme will particularly focus on recruiting under-represented groups, including women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and others, and easing their transition from high school to college.

EAGE Students Event Calendar April 2016 11-17 Apr

9th Geosphere (Student Chapter event)

Cracow, Poland

14 Apr

Saint Petersburg 2016 Student Programme

Saint Petersburg, Russia

14 Apr

Geo-Quiz (regional)

Saint Petersburg, Russia

15 apr

EAGE Student Webinar

Belgrade, Serbia

May 2016 5-7 May 11 May 30 May

GAP 2016 Munster, Germany

Geoinformatics 2016 Student Programme Kyiv, Ukraine

FIELD Challenge 2016 Vienna, Austria

30 May – 2 Jun Vienna 2016 Student programme Vienna, Austria

June 2016 1 Jun 2 Jun

EAGE Geo-Quiz (global) Vienna, Austria

EAGE Student Chapter Meeting Vienna, Austria

July 2016 11-14 Jul

7th International Geoscience Student Conference (IGSC) Katowice, Poland

August 2016 22 Aug 22-27 Aug

EAGE Geo-Quiz (regional) Adelaide, Australia

2nd South Asian Geosciences Student Conference (SAGSC) Yogyakarta, Indonesia

EAGE NEWSLETTER STUDENTS ISSUE 1 2016