The SPE Baghdad Section Awards Ceremony was dedicated to honoring SPE student chapters, engineers, scientists, technologists, petroleum engineering students, and sponsors that exemplified SPE’s mission during 2020. The awards were presented to those groups and individuals that, despite the current difficulties, were able to give the extra effort and provide opportunities for SPE members to enhance their technical and professional competence. It was the first ceremony of its type at the SPE level in Iraq.
The ceremony took place 28 January at the University of Technology in Baghdad. During the event, the section granted awards in the form of financial support, scholarships, in-kind awards, and certificates of recognition under different categories: best performances among student chapters and professional and student members, and gold sponsorship.
The 1-day event also included a technical session in which three companies presented their new oil and gas technologies: Sahara Middle East presented a case study on spectral noise logging use with high-accuracy temperature simulation. This methodology supports engineers in the identification of leaks, flow behind casing, cross flow, and production profiling for highly challenging wells. Halliburton presented three new technologies: IEnergy cloud, a hybrid solution for hosting and consuming exploration and production software, iCruise RSS— where design meets automation, and SmartWell, an intelligent completion technology. Schlumberger presented a talk on the importance of collaboration among different disciplines to overcome the siloed way of working.
After the technical talks, winners of the various awards were announced:
- Student Chapter Excellence Award: University of Baghdad SPE student chapter
- Outstanding Petroleum Engineering Student Achievement: Teba A. Mahdi, University of Kerbala
- Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship for Outstanding Petroleum Engineering Student: Mohammed K. Farag, University of Kerbala
- Award for Senior SPE Member: Gazwan N.S. Greou, University of Kufa
- 2020 Gold Sponsor Award: Halliburton Landmark
- Award for Outstanding Support: Sally Al-Khafaji, UAE
- Iqdam Al-Shadidi's Award for Scientific Excellence: Nagham J. Al Ameri, University of Baghdad
- Iqdam Al-Shadidi Award for Outstanding Service: Baraa H. Salman, Petroleum R&D Center
- Iqdam Al-Shadidi's Award for Distinguished Achievement: Dhyaa Y. Aziz, Thi-Qar Oil Company
- Haliburton Award for Outstanding Recent Graduate: Arwa Alrefaai, University of Kansas; and Ayat G. Ali, Al Farabi University College
- Schlumberger Award for Outstanding Recent Graduates was awarded in the form of two specialized training courses for around 60 recent graduates
As part of the event, the companies organized an exhibition, which included a question and answer session and attendees had the opportunity to network with subject-matter experts to discuss topics such as career advice, insights about the industry, drilling optimization, production technologies, and reservoir characterization.
[Baraa H. Salman is a member of TWA editorial committee.]