AAPG Imperial Barrel Competition

The AAPG's Imperial Barrel Award Program (IBA) is an annual, international basin evaluation competition for small teams of geoscience students. Every year the Canadian competition is held in Calgary in March. Though COVID-19 prevented Dalhousie from competing this year, we plan to return to the competition in the near future. 

•   Teams use high-tech computers and software to evaluate a petroleum geological dataset of 2D and 3D seismic and well logs. The goal is to determine the potential prospects for oil and gas exploration.

•   University teams compete to win scholarship funds for their geoscience departments

•   Promotes petroleum geoscience training and career advancement for geoscience students

•    At Dalhousie University the IBA program was previously available for course credit as ERTH 4131/5131 Advanced Petroleum Geoscience, but is no longer offered. 

How it works:

1) Teams analyze a dataset (geology, geophysics, land, production infrastructure, and other relevant materials) in the eight weeks prior to their local competition (January-March).

2) The Dalhousie team travels to Calgary to compete against other universities from across Canada for the regional competition.

3) Each team delivers their results in a 25 minute presentation to a panel of industry experts.

4) The judges will select the winning team on the basis of the technical quality, clarity and originality of presentation.

5) The winning team from Canada travel to the international competition.

For more information, please visit the AAPG's IBA webpage.