BP describes it as the Ultimate Field Trip. The winning team of the 2011 contest will get the opportunity to experience and contribute to the real challenges facing this super-major today during a six to eight-week paid summer internship.
The successful team of students will:
Work on a real project upon which business decisions will be made
Experience the range of operations in BP’s North Sea business, including trips to our Forties pipeline and an offshore platform
Be mentored by BP professionals
Be fully paid
Interested? Read on, even if you’re not a student. You will surely know one or two; perhaps a family member.
The brief:
The challenge focuses on the UK. BP is looking for a five-minute ‘pitch’ – in any electronic format you choose – that can be emailed to the company. It should communicate your ideas and the thinking behind them. The challenge is as follows:
What innovative, scientific ideas can your team come up with to maintain the UK continental shelf as a global centre of marine technology and engineering excellence by extending the useful life of North Sea oil and gas infrastructure -and, potentially, the oil and gas fields – as their economically productive activity comes to an end?
In 2009, the UKCS provided 66% of the total UK energy demand and still has an estimated 25billion barrels of oil equivalent remaining. But it is mature and that presents challenges.
This competition gives you the chance to study the issues facing BP’s North Sea operations and come up with new ideas that will extend the useful life of the oil and gas infrastructure – and potentially the oil and gas fields themselves
Judging Criteria
This is what BP is looking for:
Innovative thinking, original ideas
Recommendations that are commercially feasible by 2020
Quality of thought and presentation
Your rationale and the ideas you decided against
Teamwork
Stage 1 – Form a team of three people and register your details online at
bp.com/fieldtrip
. BP will reply, confirming what to do next and how to submit your entry.
Stage 2 – Initial submission by December 17
Stage 3 – semi-finalists announced on January 17 2011
Stage 4 – regional semi-finals in February 2011.
The semi-finals will be a chance to hone your ideas and present them in person to an industry panel. After the regional semi-final events, the finalists will be chosen. The locations for regional semi-finals are to be decided depending on the short-list in order to help you with travel. Your expenses will be covered.
Stage 5 – grand final April 2011
The best teams will be chosen to go through to the grand final, which will be held at a prestigious London location. This will be judged by senior BP people and experts from industry. The winning team will of course be announced that evening.
Last year, 52 teams submitted entries to the competition. Of these 15 teams were put through to the semi finals of which five went through to the grand final, which was held at the Natural History Museum in London.
Semi-finalists included teams from Aberdeen, Robert Gordon, Manchester, Nottingham, Leeds, Durham, Imperial, Oxford and Cambridge.
