Since 2002, the Society of Petroleum Engineers has conducted an international quiz called the ‘Petrobowl’. The best petroleum engineering schools from around the globe compete fiercely for the coveted Petrobowl title every year at the SPE ATCE. Prior to that, regional qualifiers are held in six zones- North America, South America and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. The top teams from each zone qualify for the Petrobowl finals which will be held in Calgary, Alberta later this year. In order to stand a chance in this competition, the students representing each school sharpen their knowledge of the modern petroleum industry along with the vast history surrounding our field. Additionally, this competition promotes teamwork and a sense of camaraderie among peers.
The Pennsylvania State University’s Petrobowl team is an integral part of SPE Penn State and it has been one of the most respected teams due to its consistent performance. Penn State achieved the third-place position in the Petrobowl finals in 2016 at the ATCE in Dubai. Additionally, our program has produced teams which were semifinalists in the Petrobowl-North American Regionals in 2016 at UT Austin and also at the Petrobowl finals in 2014 at ATCE in Amsterdam. Having come this far, the team is working very hard to bring home the ‘Golden Rig’ – the trophy provided to the winner, in the near future.
Format of the competition:
To date, the competition involves teams represented by five members each, with four of them competing on stage for a given round. The questions in the quiz are divided into two types: Toss-up and bonus. Toss-up questions involve a team buzzing in and answering the question correctly to win 10 points and get a chance to answer a subsequent bonus question, while a wrong answer leads to a deduction of 5 points and also provides a chance for the other team to answer if they had also buzzed in for the question. Only the team member who buzzed in first is allowed to answer the toss-up question. Unlike toss-up questions, the bonus questions can only be answered by the team which got the toss-up right, and also there is a possibility to get partial credit for answering them. The questions in both Toss-up and bonus may come from a wide range of areas involved with or related to the petroleum industry, such as, Drilling, Production, Reservoir Engineering, Well Testing, Completions, Geology, and Geophysics, etc. and also on Trivia involving the history of the petroleum industry, SPE facts and figures, Oil and gas resources, etc. This makes it a very challenging task to optimally manage the team during preparation.
Anyone interested in joining PetroBowl should contact Douglas Doll at drd5485@psu.edu.