Eight inaugural technical series covering production and process engineering topics marked the establishment of the newest SPE student chapter in the archipelago of Indonesia in late 2021. This is part of Institut Teknologi Kalimantan (ITK),which is located on the east coast of Borneo island, expanding its vision and becoming a pipeline to create future industry generations. The inaugural series is a kick-start of the activities in the newly established chapter with a native chemical engineering undergraduate background. A total of 15 speakers and moderators from more than eight companies participated in the technical sessions.
The series highlighted topics from drilling fluid technologies, the life cycle of production surface facilities, flow assurance and control, process safety, fracture fluid design, surface well testing, process design, and simulation to petroleum refining process and catalytic cracking. Despite most of the events being conducted virtually, the attendance of the series was high (more than 100 participants/event). They fostered collaborations with companies such as Pertamina, Schlumberger, and others to deliver high-quality technical presentations and helped build networking with their other members. The series proved to be a solid foundation and commitment from an organization starting the campaign of serving its members.
Dewi Balqis Uswatun Khasanah, the first chairwoman of the chapter said “Our vision is to establish an organization where students can build relationships, develop integrity, and learn a lot about the oil and gas industry. It is a great way for students to connect locally. We hope the newly established chapter can foster a coherent and cooperative culture to establish a welcoming workplace with a strong sense of belonging and a dedicated team so that long-term relationships are formed with both internal and external parties. [We hope to] increase oil and gas knowledge and personal development abilities by providing learning opportunities that benefit the community and members. In my tenure, I also want to promote women participation and have them spotlighted.” Khasanah hopes the inaugural series and the establishment of the new student chapter could help the society and the members to advance the impact to broader communities.
