UofU Geology Students Win 2nd Place in Imperial Barrel Award Competition

Wassim Benhallam, Ellen Rosencrans, Ryan Gall, Aubry DeReuil and Jon Primm
Faculty Advisor - Lauren Birgenheier - Geology & Geophysics Dept.

For the third year in a row, a team of GG grad students at University of
Utah, entered into a worldwide petroleum exploration competition put on
each year by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, called
the Imperial Barrel Award competition.

U of U team (Black Diamond Ventures) placed 2nd in the Rocky Mountain
regional competition just behind University of Montana and ahead of Utah
State University. Team photo attached.

The team, spent 8 weeks working up seismic and well data from the
Taranaki Basin for oil and gas prospects. The team was advised by
myself and two kind and excellent volunteer industry alums, Matthew
Heumann (ConocoPhillips) and John Byrd (Hess Corporation). The team
presented their work two weekends ago in Denver to a panel of judges.
Black Diamond Ventures performed the most rigorous and creative
technical work I've seen in the Imperial Barrel Award competition.