Students from Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University excelled at the ‘Oil and Gas Engineering and Mining’ sectoral Olympiad, organised by Perm National Research Polytechnic University (PNRPU) as part of the XV International Youth Engineering Forum of the same name. The forum brought together university students, postgraduate researchers and young scientists from Russia, China, Iran and Uzbekistan. Topics included fundamental geology, the search for mineral deposits, automation of mining and oil and gas processes, and hydrocarbon production.
Four Mining University teams, comprising 12 students from different years and fields of study, took first place in four of the five tracks: ‘Oil and Gas Engineering’, ‘Fundamentals of Mining’, ‘Mining Machinery and Equipment’ and ‘Mine Surveying’.
The competition comprised theoretical and practical stages. Contestants had to demonstrate their knowledge and skills and propose their own engineering solutions. For example, participants in the Oil and Gas Engineering track were given the following tasks: propose solutions for tackling high water cut in wells; calculate how much oil would flow into a well after it had been drilled and brought into production at a field; and calculate the strength of a drill string several kilometres long to ensure that it could withstand the load under specified conditions.
—Of course, the Olympiad tasks were somewhat idealised. In practice, no one considers a single well in isolation. The field’s geometry, heterogeneity and specific properties at each location are always taken into account. These are very complex problems that cannot be solved with a single formula on paper. Yet even in an idealised case, the tasks set allowed a basic understanding of the processes to be tested. The tasks were interesting, and I enjoyed them very much, — says Alexey Zyryanov, a fifth-year student at the Faculty of Oil and Gas Engineering.
Semyon Rechkin, a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, competed in the Mining Machinery and Equipment track. The tasks covered a range of topics, from describing the kinematics of machines’ working mechanisms and the differences between them to developing a comprehensive vision of the mining industry’s future and prospects.
He had already taken part in case competitions on several occasions, but this was his first Olympiad outside his own university.
— This is an opportunity to add to my CV, establish myself as a specialist and demonstrate my knowledge and skills to future employers. Secondly, I was very interested in visiting a new city and the university in Perm itself. Moreover, the event’s principal organiser, a professor whose doctoral thesis addresses issues of subsoil use, was a member of the expert panel assessing my research this spring. We had an interesting discussion about my presentation. It was interesting to talk to him, learn about their work and tell him about ours.
The forum also hosted a conference on ‘Challenges in the Development of Hydrocarbon and Ore Deposits’. Presentations were given by university students and young scientists, as well as representatives of leading mining companies, including Uralkali, NSH Asia Drilling, LUKOIL-Perm, Novomet-Perm and Neftserviceholding. Individual interviews were arranged for students whose specialisms matched the companies’ areas of activity, where the two sides could agree on practical placements or internships.
