Global student competition honors outstanding geoscience talent

TULSA, Okla., Aug. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A team from Indonesia’s Institut Teknologi Bandung has won the 2026 American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Imperial Barrel Award, taking first place at the global final of a competition that began with regional contests around the world. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, in the United States, placed second, and Hungary’s Eötvös Loránd University came third. AAPG’s global competition challenges geoscience students to apply their technical knowledge, work effectively as a team and present their findings to industry experts.

Over the course of the competition, teams analyze geological, geophysical and related data to assess resource potential, evaluate risk and make technical recommendations under conditions designed to reflect real industry challenges. Teams first compete in regional competitions across AAPG’s global regions, with the winners advancing to the global final. The teams have an opportunity to choose from geothermal, carbon capture and sequestration, or petroleum datasets. The Institut Teknologi Bandung team competed using the petroleum dataset.

“The Imperial Barrel Award represents what AAPG aims to foster in the next generation of geoscientists: technical excellence, curiosity, teamwork and the ability to communicate complex ideas clearly,” said AAPG President John Casiano.

“We are grateful to platinum sponsor Murphy, technology sponsor SLB and all the organizations whose support enables students around the world to take part in this valuable professional development experience,” he added. “I would also like to thank Brian Horn, AAPG’s immediate past president, for his tireless support of the Imperial Barrel Award during his term.”

This year’s competition was supported by SLB, which provided participating universities with access to its Delfi™ digital platform, along with training to help student teams use the technology during the competition. SLB’s support broadened students’ access to industry-standard digital geoscience workflows.

“We are proud to recognize this year’s winning teams and grateful to all our sponsors and partners for helping give students meaningful, real-world experience of the tools, technologies and challenges shaping the future of energy geoscience,” said Imperial Barrel Award Chair Catie Donohue.

Marcus Rossi, vice president, Digital North America, SLB, said: “Digital fluency is becoming fundamental to how geoscientists interpret data and make decisions. By working with the Delfi digital platform, students gained practical experience applying industry technology to complex subsurface challenges, helping prepare them to contribute from the outset of their careers.”

The 2026 Imperial Barrel Award was also supported by gold sponsors Aramco, Chevron and Total; silver sponsor Woodside; Regional Leader sponsors Continental and PDO; Visionary sponsors EOG and Conoco; and data and software sponsors AWS, DUG, Geosoftware, Dynamic Group and Zetaware.

The winning team from Institut Teknologi Bandung, a public research university in Bandung, comprised: Arieq Bagus Putradinanti, Dinda Putri Khamisah, Fathan Khoiri N Siregar, Hammam Muhammad and Mohammad Maghanthis Taqy. The team won the Asia Pacific regional competition.

Amadeo Suazo, Ashley Mindt, Myllah Brown, Anna-Sophia Henry and Caitlyn Mullis, winners of the North America regional competition, took part for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, while the team from Eötvös Loránd University, in Budapest, were: Gergo Glavanov, Boglárka Illés, Péter Weisz, Dániel Turai and Bori Csende. They won the Europe regional contest.

The competition is delivered each year by AAPG volunteers, including the organizing committee, mentors and judges, alongside the faculty advisors who support student teams at their universities.

About the AAPG Imperial Barrel Award

The AAPG Imperial Barrel Award is an international competition for graduate geoscience students. Teams analyze real-world datasets and present their technical recommendations to industry experts, gaining practical experience in subsurface evaluation, teamwork and professional communication.

About AAPG

The American Association of Petroleum Geologists is a global professional organization dedicated to advancing the science of geology and supporting geoscientists across energy, environmental and applied earth science disciplines. Through programs such as the Imperial Barrel Award, AAPG promotes technical excellence and the development of future energy professionals.

Media contact

AAPG Anthea Pitt apitt@aapg.org +44 7930 034 706

Images are available on request. Please get in touch with AAPG’s media contact.

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SOURCE AAPG