Pupils from Cults Academy have triumphed in the north-east heat of an online competition which sees pupils around the world take on the role of oil barons.
Over 180 S5 and S6 pupils from the region fought to claim the top place in the highly interactive Petrochallenge at RGU’s School of Computing last month.
Run and organised by industry skills body, Opito, the competition is regarded as a key event in the educational calendar providing students and teachers with a special experience and an insight into the oil and gas industry.
The winning team, S6 pupils Tom Cook, 17, Natasha Pitman, 17, Morag Christie, 16, and Amiriah Ahmed, 16, have to wait for the results of other regional heats before they find out whether they get to go forward to represent the UK at the international final in London in January.
Larraine Boorman, MD of Opito UK, said: “I’m delighted by the enthusiasm shown by the students taking part with pupils really embracing the challenges faced by real-life oil and gas operators.
“I would like to congratulate all who took part for their determination to succeed, which helps make the competition such a success. We have hopefully inspired those who didn’t know much about the industry, that a career in oil and gas is exciting, rewarding and diverse.”
Designed to empower the next generation of oil and gas professionals, competitors use a web-based learning tool to study seismic surveys, bid for licences, farm out stakes to other teams, compete to get rigs, contract service providers, and choose where to drill wells in a fictitious province.
Almost 2,000 students from across the UK have taken part in the Petrochallenge since it was established.
The overall winning team will face fierce competition from other finalists from schools around the globe including the Faroe Islands, Norway, Greenland, Denmark, the US and Canada.